The Walking Dead and Underrated Classics Season 1
by VideoGameAddict237
Summary: The apocalypse has begun in the world. As people try to find a way to survive in the world and find those they love they are under threat by the walkers who roam the world looking for victims. Rated M for violence, gore, and language
1. Chapter 1: Apocalypse Now

_So this is my first attempt at a new series outside the Underrated Classics series. This is going to follow a huge series of fanfics that I'm going to base off the Walking Dead franchise, with the Underrated Classics characters which include: Hogarth Hughes, Mrs. Elizabeth Brisby, Tutenstein, Dexter. Along with other characters that will be introduced The idea came after I saw Zombie Apocalypse Memes on deviantart. I made my own. Now I'd like to express this idea through my writing. So without further ado here is The Walking Dead/Underrated Classics Season 1. This might rip off both the series and the game but give me the benefit of the doubt._

**All rights to the Walking Dead go to AMC, Telltale Games, and Robert Kirkman.**

**Chapter 1**

**Apocalypse Now**

It was close to evening. Cars and trucks were broken down and scattered across the road. A young teenage boy was walking down the road, with a sour grim look on his face. He carried a bag on his back filled with food, water, and survival gear. His clothes were covered in blood and his arm was wrapped in bandages, concealing a wound he had gotten. He looked as though he had been walking for weeks. He stopped for a couple minutes to drink some water and reload his gun, when he saw what looked like a person kneeling over something on the road. He looked and called out to it.

"HEY, Hello over there can you hear me," he yelled out to the figure.

He saw the figure stand up and turn towards him. The boy felt relieved for a minute hoping that it was someone that could help.

"Well it's nice to finally see some friendly faces."

As he walked towards the figure he noticed it wasn't a person at all. It was one of them.

"Oh shit, not another one, give me a break" he said to himself.

The creature was nothing more than what would've been a little girl, none more than five years old. The creature came towards him, she tripped and fell to the ground. Her body was thin to the point where she couldn't even stand up.

The boy walked towards the girl and stood over her. She had nothing on her, no gunshot wounds, no bites, not even any scratches.

"Maybe, she hid out here, and starved to death," the boy said to himself. It was a horrible way to die, especially for a child.

He walked even closer to the girl and looked over her, she was harmless so she couldn't hurt him. She looked up and, giving a weak growl, reached out her hand. The boy then pulled out his gun and loaded it. He aimed it at the creature's head and muttered two words before he fired his shot.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

_6 weeks ago_

It was a quiet night down in the peaceful town of Rockwell Maine. Down at the Hughes residence, 13 year old Hogarth Hughes was in his bedroom playing his electric guitar to _Orion_ by Metallica. Hogarth's parents were Annie Hughes and his step-father Dean. His biological father died in the army when he was a couple months old. Dean married his mother when he was 9 years old and took up as a father figure to him. They did a lot of things as father and son. They went hunting, fishing, played sports and Dean even taught Hogarth how to play other instruments.

"Hogarth, time for dinner honey," he heard his mom call him.

"Okay Mom, be down in a minute," he called down as he put his guitar away and walked downstairs.

As they ate dinner they discussed some of the recent events going on around town particularly this one about a man who went crazy and attacked and killed another man in the woods.

"When the police came, they say he didn't even look like a man, he looked like some monster," Dean told them.

"Yeah I heard about that," Hogarth said, "they said it looked like he was eating the guy."

"Hogarth!" his mother snapped at him.

"Sorry, I just saying."

"But it's raising the question, what was wrong with the guy, was he on drugs, was he crazy, what's going on?" Dean said confused.

Indeed this had been happening for a while now. In random parts of the world people starting going into this state of violence where they would kill and then eat eachother.

"Anyway, let's not think about it right now," Annie said.

A couple hours later Hogarth was sitting in his bed reading when Dean came in.

"Hey, Hogarth, how about tomorrow morning we head out to the woods and do a little hunting?"

"Sure, sounds like fun."

"Goodnight kiddo."

Hogarth then went to sleep. They woke up around 7:30 the next morning and went out into the woods with shotguns in hands. When he first went out hunting Hogarth didn't feel comfortable shooting a gun. Thanks to training from Dean though, he managed to shoot, not only a single pistol, but a full scale rifle.

As they were walking they came across a deer eating. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some practice in.

"Alright Hogarth, just like I showed you. Line up the shot, take a deep breath and then pull the trigger."

"Okay."

Hogarth did exactly that and just as he was about to pull the trigger there was a loud scream coming from far away. The deer heard this and ran off in fright.

"What the hell was that," Hogarth said in fright.

" I don't know maybe we should get going."

"But Dean, we need to see if..."

"I SAID LET'S GO," Dean snapped at him.

"Fine," he said begrudgingly.

On the car ride home Hogarth sat in the back seat angry that Dean decided to leave. As Dean was driving he saw how angry Hogarth seemed and tried his best to see if he could stop calm him down

"Look, kid things got a little dangerous so I just thought we should've..."

"Why?"

"What?" he responded confused

"Why did we have to leave? There could've been people in trouble back there Dean. If something bad happened to them, then that blood is on our hands." Hogarth told his stepdad with anger present in his voice.

"Look kid, sometimes when things seem bad you need to move on and forget about what happened."

"I guess that makes sense," he said.

"Look kid when we get home we'll talk about it and then we'll go back tomorrow and see what happened."

As Dean was talking there was something in the road. It looked like a person and Dean was about to hit it. Hogarth took immediate notice and shouted out.

"OH SHIT, DEAN LOOK OUT,"

But it was too late. The car collided with the figure. The car swerved out of control and crashed into some trees in the woods. Hogarth was thrown around all over the backseat. While Dean tried to remain conscious but got hit around all over the place. Eventually the car stopped and they fell unconscious.

* * *

A couple hours later, Hogarth finally woke. Luckily he had no broken bones or legs but his arm was cut up pretty bad. He looked around trying to adjust his vision. After he blinked his eyes a couple of times he finally could see clearly. Looking around he saw that the car was wrecked, but where was Dean?

Hogarth got the strength to move towards the window, and kick the glass with his foot. After a few kicks the glass shattered and he crawled out. He clutched his arm in pain as blood poured out of it. He then took off his belt and wrapped it around his arm as a tourniquet. The bleeding stopped and Hogarth sat down relieved for a moment. After a couple minutes he went into the trunk of the car and pulled out his pistol, shotgun, and hunting knife.

"DEAN, WHERE ARE YOU," he called out.

No response. There was something definitely wrong here. "What was that thing in the road?" Hogarth thought to himself. "Maybe it has something to do with the attack the other day."

The attacker that was killed recently was said to be in a trance and went around growling. The police tried to stop him but he just kept walking and growling until they finally shot him down. It took several shots until they finally shot him in the head.

"No, I'm probably just thinking things," he thought to himself but then he heard a familiar scream from far off in the woods.

"Dean," he gasped and he took off running.

"Dean don't worry I'm coming," he yelled.

He ran as fast as he could. He didn't even care if he tripped, he had to save his step-father. He kept running until finally he came to a clearing in the woods by the stream. He saw Dean lying on the ground.

"Dean," he yelled running over to him. He turned him on his back and gave him some water from his backpack.

"Hogarth... are you alright," Dean said. He looked horrible and sick. His face was terribly pale, and his eyes were sunken and turned yellow around the iris.

"I'm fine, what happened to you," Hogarth asked worried.

"I.. I came up here when I heard something... and then these things attacked me."

Right after he said that, something came out of the woods. It was a man walking towards them slowly. He looked like he was limping. Hogarth saw him and yelled out to him.

"HEY, please can you help us," he yelled out before Dean grabbed his jacket.

"No it's one of those things you need to kill it."

"I can't," he responded meekly.

"You have to," he told him.

Hogarth not thinking of much else to do picked up his gun and aimed it at the man walking towards them. As he approached it he could see it wasn't even a man. It's mouth was covered in blood, it was walking slowly and was growling. Hogarth fired his shot in the heart but it didn't die. After several more shots it finally died after it was hit in the head. Hogarth went back to Dean and tried to help him.

"What are these things," Hogarth asked.

"They're the dead, they just die, get up and walk around looking for more people," Dean responded weakly.

"Come on, we need to get you back to the house," Hogarth told him as he tried to get him up off the ground.

"No kid, I can't."

"Yes you can," Hogarth said as his face became red with rage and his eyes became glassy from tears.

"Listen to me son," Dean said holding his hand to his son's face, "you need to get out of here, go home get your mother and get out of town."

"Not without you," he said.

"Forget about me, what's important now is for you and your mother to survive these things, these "walkers"."

"Okay," Hogarth said quietly, knowing what he had to do.

Just then more of the walkers came out of the forest and went towards them.

"GO NOW," Dean yelled.

Hogarth took off running and went as fast as he can carrying his gun and survival knife. As he ran through the woods to his house he felt emotions of fear and guilt. He just left Dean to die and he was afraid to what was going to happen, not to him, but to his friends and his family.

He ran for twenty minutes until he finally reached his house. He ran inside the house and finally stopped panting from the run. He then locked the door.

"Mom, are you home," he called.

"Oh Jesus, where are you," he mumbled

"Mom, it's me Hogarth, are you here," he called again. He looked all over the house and he couldn't find his mother at all. "Did the... NO..." he said to himself, "the walkers couldn't have gotten her."

He walked into the kitchen and found a note on the counter. It was written by his mother and looked as though it had been written not so long ago. It read...

_Dean, Hogarth_

_Things have gotten horrible down here, there are attacks all over the city and we need to get out of here. I'm heading out of town to find a group to survive this. Come and find me I promise I'll be there. Be strong and be safe._

_Annie._

Hogarth finished reading the letter and tossed it aside.

"She's all I have left, I can't lose anyone else," he said sadly, "I need to get out of town and find her." For a couple minutes Hogarth sat on the floor of the kitchen pondering what he would do. Where would he go, what would he do, and how would he survive? That didn't matter right now what mattered was protecting his mother for all it was worth. He collected himself and got prepared

Hogarth went upstairs and gathered his supplies. He got his rifle, his guns, and his hunting knife and put them in his bag. He then put some food and water in his bag that would last him for several weeks. As soon as he was done he went into the bathroom and gathered some cloth. He cleaned off his arm with hydrogen peroxide and then bandaged it with the cloth. After that he gathered everything he went outside.

Several walkers had gathered around the house already. He sneaked passed them and got onto the road. One of the walkers came out of the forest and went towards him. Hogarth then took out his knife and stabbed it right in the head. He looked over all of them on the road and let out a long scream of pain, and sorrow.

"WHAT THE FUCK'S GOING ON!"

_So now Hogarth's objective is to find his mother. In the next chapter Hogarth will meet new allies and try to survive. Hope you enjoy. VGA_


	2. Chapter 2: Where to Go

**Chapter 2 Where to** **Go?**

Hogarth had been on the road for several weeks now. He was tired, hungry and lost. He had finally left Rockwell and was making his way towards Albany, New York. For weeks he wandered on the road, stopping only at night to sleep in any safe shelter from the walkers. Everyday he would search different abandoned stores looking for extra food and supplies, keep moving forward, kill walkers if they got in the way, and then go to sleep.

He found a map of the local area and kept track of where he was going. He didn't know where his mother was going but hopefully there were some survival groups in the area. And he would look for every single group until he found her. Also he knew that finding a group of people would be his best chance of survival.

He kept a small radio in his pocket that he turned on ocassionally. He hoped that there were some forms of information of what was going on. From what he could tell the attacks have been happening throughout random parts of the country including in states like Georgia, California, Washington, and many others.

One morning Hogarth woke up in the trunk of a car he hid inside during the night when a swarm of walkers came out of the forest. Climbing out from the trunk he gathered his supplies and went over to the stream in the woods to clean himself up.

"Alright Hogarth," he thought to himself as he washed his face with water, "gather what you need for the day, move on, and then hide when it gets dark."

"I guess I'll turn on the radio," he said. He switched on the radio and tuned it until he could hear the news.

_"Things have gotten much worse up in the cities. People are still being advised to stay in their homes and keep the house locked up. There are several shelters that people have set up and people who are on the road are advised to head there for protection, wha..?" _

_"Johnny, what's going on?"_

_"OH GOD! NO NO AHHHHH"_

The newscaster screamed as static came on and only growling and moaning could be heard along with the gory sounds of flesh cutting. Not wanting to hear anymore, Hogarth switched the radio off and threw it away.

"Fuck, the world is definitely going to shit now," he said as he started walking again.

Hogarth scouted the forest looking for animals or anything for food. His bag was still full of food that he took from the house. But he had only a weeks worth left and he had to stock up otherwise he'd starve.

He managed to find a couple of rabbits and got back to the road. As he began walking he noticed that it was really quiet. It was actually pretty peaceful, almost as if he had never seen anyone being killed. He just hoped that it would go back to being like that soon. Before any of this started. All of a sudden he heard footsteps echoing from far away.

He jumped behind a dilapidated car and pulled out his rifle from his bag. He loaded it and got ready to shoot it. As the footsteps advanced even closer he started to hear voices.

"Hey you're the one who wanted to go this way, and your supposed to be the genius," the first one said.

"Are you kidding me it was your idea to go down this part of the road, just be lucky that there aren't any of those things out here."

"Maybe they could help, but I gotta make sure they're not assholes," he thought to himself.

Hogarth lowered his gun and slowly came out from behind the car with his rifle hanging down his shoulder. He walked closer and saw the two figures.

"HOLD IT," he shouted.

The two figures were both two boys of around Hogarth's age. One was a red head wearing a white lab coat and purple gloves, and one was a kid who looked like he was covered in bandages and dressed like a mummy.

"Please, we don't want any trouble," the red head responded as Hogarth walked up closer to them, "we're just looking for some help."

"I'm not going to hurt you two," he responded.

The mummy kid decided to speak up next. "Look we've been out here all day, we're trying to find a place where's there's food and then we're going to get back to our hideout, do you think you can help us."

"Heh heh, can you give us a moment," the red head told Hogarth.

"Take your time," Hogarth said.

"Are you crazy, he might be similar to one of those assholes that we met three days ago."

"He seems like he could help us, besides if anyone has survival experience it could be him," the mummy told his friend.

"Alright fine, but if we wake up tomorrow and find out he's going to cut our throats, I'm going to beat the living shit out of you."

They turned back to Hogarth who was standing with his arms crossed. He had heard them talking the whole time.

"You know I heard you two talking the whole time," he said with a grin on his face.

"Dammit," Dexter yelled stomping his foot on the ground.

"Look I'll help you guys, I've been out here for so long and I know how to survive, you'll need the extra help."

"You see, I told you he was a good guy," the mummy kid said and they both walked up to him and shook hands.

"Names Hogarth, Hogarth Hughes."

"Dexter," the red head responded.

"Tutenstein, but my friends call me Tut," the mummy kid said.

"May I ask why you're covered in bandages, were you coming from some Halloween party," Hogarth asked confused.

"Well, I, umm..." Tut stuttered trying to find what to say.

"Okay, don't freak out when I tell you this, but Tut is actually a mummy who was raised from the dead."

Hogarth eyes went wide and his mouth agape. He stood like that for a couple minutes but then shook it off.

"Well as long as he's a good guy, I'm all right with it," he said as he patted Tut on the back and walked ahead of them.

"So how long have you been out here for," Tut asked.

"For about three weeks at least, what about the both of you," he asked.

"I've been on the road ever since this started, those things came up around my house and I just got out and just started running," Dexter said.

"I've been on my own for about a week at least, met Dexter on the way through," Tut explained.

After a couple minutes of walking they came across what looked like a supermarket on the curb.

"Think we can find some food in there," Dexter asked.

"Maybe," Hogarth said.

"Well, what are we waiting for let's go," Tut said as he was about to take off towards the store. Hogarth pulled him back by his shoulder.

"Hold on there, we have to be careful and make sure it's clear of any walkers."

"Walkers?" Dexter asked, "I think I like that name for them."

"Yeah, I was about to start calling them lurkers, or just plain zombies," Tut said.

"Anyway, are you guys skilled in any kinds of weapons, do any of you know how to shoot a gun or use a knife."

"I can use a knife," Tut said as he pulled a Bowie knife out of his pocket.

"Yeah and I can shoot a gun, but only from a far distance," Dexter said.

"Well we'll brush you up on your shooting skills, either way we'll head in make sure it's clear, then we'll gather what we need and then leave and get back to your hideout."

_So the next chapter will follow what will happen as they go into the abandoned supermarket. By the way to Telltale Creators for Season 2 episode 1. It's walkers not lurkers._


	3. Chapter 3: Fighting and Planning

**Chapter 3: Fighting and**** Planning**

The three teenagers went into the store holding their weapons in their hands. They looked around and saw that everything was clear.

"We need to split up, check the rest of the place and make sure there's no walkers hiding anywhere."

All went to different parts of the stores. The counter, the food aisles, everything. Eventually they found nothing and called out.

"All clear," Dexter said as he held his pistol in his hand.

"Good, let's clear this place, find any food, water, or medical supplies," Hogarth told them, "we're gonna need all the help we can get if we're gonna survive out here."

"Got it," Tut said.

"Yep," Dexter replied.

They cleared the whole store in a matter of minutes. Hogarth got together all of the food and water, Dexter gathered any kind of utilities that they could use as either weapons or anything, and Tut gathered all of the medical supplies, medicine, bandages, anything that could help if anybody got hurt.

"Well I guess that's everything," Hogarth said, "come on guys let's get going."

As Hogarth started to walk out of the store, Dexter stopped him.

"Hold on I missed a shelf right here," he said as he went over to the shelf that was still filled up with supplies, but standing up in a dark corner of the room.

"Alright, but hurry up, no telling when the walkers will get here," he warned him.

As Dexter finished clearing the shelf he felt breathing go down his neck. He turned to his right and saw a walker standing right next to him. The walker growled and lunged at him trying to bite him. Dexter screamed as he tried to push it off of him.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT, GET IT OFF ME, GET IT OFF ME!"

Hogarth and Tut heard his cries for help and ran to Dexter's aid.

The walker was right on top of Dexter trying to bite him. Dexter was flailing his arms all over the place and trying to push the walker off of him. Hogarth and Tut came right over to him and pulled the walker off. Dexter backed away and hit the back of the shelf. A can of canned food that he didn't pick up fell off and hit him on the head, knocking him out.

The walker got up and started walking towards Hogarth who was loading his gun and preparing to shoot it. He lined up the shot and got ready to shoot the gun, but as he pulled the trigger,.. it didn't fire.

"What the fuck," he cursed as he tried to get the gun to shoot.

"Come on you fucking piece of shit, work," he snarled.

The walker got so close to him and pushed him up against the wall. He kick it off but the creature was too heavy. The walker growled right in his face and opened it's bloody mouth, preparing to eat him. Hogarth closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

But his salvation came right there. Tut pulled out his Bowie knife and stabbed the walker in the back several times, trying to get it in the head. The walker turned around and went towards Tut.

Just as Hogarth was about to pull the trigger another gun shot went off and hit the walker straight in the head. It fell to the ground finally dead.

"Nice shot," Tut complimented.

"I... I didn't shoot it," he responded confused.

Looking over they saw that Dexter had woken up and had a gun in his hand. He had shot the creature right there. He put his gun away and wiped his forehead.

"Well, this could've gone better," he said with a grin.

"Yeah, no fucking shit," Hogarth said to him, "we gotta be more careful, next time there's no telling what will happen."

"Now that we've got everything let's get going," Tut said.

They walked out of the supermarket and went back onto the road. As they got out of the store, they saw that a huge amount of walkers had gathered around outside. They were all over the place and the three boys were surrounded.

"JESUS, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME," Tut yelled.

"They must've heard the gunshot from inside," Hogarth said as he pulled out his pistol and began firing. He was able to take down several walkers in seconds. Dexter and Tut followed right behind him as Dexter shot most of them, as Tut would knife the one's getting to close.

"We can't hold them off forever," Tut said.

"We won't have to," Dexter said with reassurance," once we get an open path we'll run out."

"Like right now," Hogarth said as he found an open spot to run away from the walkers.

"RUN FOR IT," he yelled as they all took off running through the horde of walkers. They just kept running and didn't even care about stopping. It didn't even matter how fast they were going as long as they got the hell out of there.

* * *

For about 20 minutes hey just kept running. Eventually they got out of town and into a suburban neighborhood that looked abandoned. They finally stopped running and were panting for breath. They were sweating very hard and felt like they just ran across the country.

"So... exactly... where is...your hideout?" Hogarth asked panting for breath.

"Right over here," Dexter said as he led them to a small wooden door that led to a basement as he opened it.

"Come on, go ahead in," he motioned with a hand wave.

Hogarth and Tut went into the basement and Dexter followed right behind them, after he locked the door.

"Will that door be able to keep out walkers," Hogarth asked, not assured.

"Well I locked it, and they don't have a key," Dexter said, joking around.

"Yeah Dex, you're a comedy genius, ha ha" Tut laughed sarcastically

"Either way we still have much more enforcments even if they try to get in, but we'll show that to you later," Dexter explained.

They walked down the stairs to a door at the very bottom. Dexter unlocked the door with a key and opened it up.

"Welcome to my office," he said exuberantly.

The room was clean and neat as if it hadn't been touched for a long time. There was a flat screen TV and a PS3 plugged up into it.

"Holy shit, I haven't seen stuff like this for weeks."

"Well unfortunately we haven't gotten any electricity so the TV and PS3 are out of order, sorry bro," Dexter said patting Hogarth on the body.

"It's fine, I don't play video games that much," he told him, "how long have you guys been here for."

"We found this place last week while we were out on the road. Some walkers got in a couple times but we cleared up any open spots and cleaned up the place," Tut explained.

Hogarth took a seat on the couch. He took off his backpack and his gear. For once in the past several weeks, he actually felt both relaxed and relieved. Every day for now he'd have to get up and move immediately. Always had his hand on the trigger and never got a real chance to sit down.

"So I never got the chance to actually have a real conversation, how'd you guys end up here."

Tut went first and explained his story.

"I was at a museum for a little while with my best friend Cleo. She was the one who brought me back."

"So what happened when everything started."

"It got really fucked up. We were hiding out at the museum but the museum guard, Walter I think it was, got wasted one night and left the door open right there. Walkers came in and...Jesus," Tut said as he covered his eyes remembering all the horrible things that happened during the night at the museum

"We were separated. I know Cleo is alive and I've been looking all over the place trying to find her. I was walked on the road for days until I met Dexter."

Dexter then began his story

"I was just at home with my sister Dee Dee and my parents, when everything started we were gonna go to one of the shelters that we heard about on the radio."

Dexter's voice fell and he couldn't speak clearly.

"Then the walkers...came to my neighborhood... and ...they attacked my dad."

"What happened after that," Hogarth asked wanting to know.

Dexter couldn't continue so Tut decided to continue for him.

"They thought they could try and help his dad, but they couldn't and he turned and his mom was standing right there and she was attacked."

"You don't have to say anymore." Hogarth told them not wanting to hurt Dexter anymore.

"My sister Dee Dee got me out and saved me," Dexter couldn't help but smile at this.

"She was always annoying me non-stop but I'm actually glad she helped me."

"So we told you our stories now what happened to you?" Tut asked.

"Okay here's the story," he said.

Hogarth told them what happened. How when everything started he and his step-dad Dean were out on their hunting trip. When they were on the road they hit one of the walkers and fell into the woods. Dean got attacked and Hogarth had to leave him behind. He then told them how he had been wandering because he's been trying to find his mother.

"I'm not gonna stop until I find her," Hogarth said firmly, "she's all I have left and I can't lose her."

"I'm with you Hogarth," Tut responded, "I gotta find Cleo and you gotta find your mom."

"I'll help you too," Dexter told him, "we gotta find a group that'll help us.

"Have you guys been planning on leaving this place soon," Hogarth asked

"We've been waiting for the right opportunity," Tut told him.

"I have a plan," Dexter said, "we'll leave tomorrow morning and we'll get on the road."

"Then we'll find a survivor group, but if my mother isn't there then I can't stay."

"We're with you dude," Tut responded, patting him on the back.

"It's getting late, we better get to bed, we gotta be up early tomorrow," Dexter said as he lied down on the couch and fell asleep."

Tut followed shortly behind and as Hogarth went to sleep on the floor, which was actually more comfortable then where he'd been sleeping for so long for the past couple of weeks, he started to think of how he was going to find his mother again. He just kept thinking about it for hours and he decided on what he was going to do. Before he finally fell asleep he said,

"Goodnight Mom, I love you."

He then drifted off to sleep hoping the next couple of days would bring some good fortune to him.

**Well this chapter played out good so far. The next couple of chapters will introduce new characters and better conflict. I'm sorry if I'm keeping anybody waiting and I'll improve on it soon. Also if people look at this and call it a ripoff. It might be one but I'll try my best to make it enjoyable for you.**

**Thanks for continued support on the internet. **

**VideoGameAddict237**


	4. Chapter 4: New Acquaintances

**Chapter 4: New Acquaintances**

"Come on buddy time to get up," a voice said.

Hogarth mumbled in his sleep, not wanting to wake up.

"Just give me five more minutes," he mumbled. Just then he felt himself being kicked and he finally gave in when he was kicked in the face.

"OW shit, dude what the fuck" he shrieked as he was kicked.

"COME ON, GET UP," the voice yelled. It was Dexter.

"Okay shithead I'm up," he said in a cantankerous manner.

Hogarth got up from the floor and gathered his gear. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair was everywhere. He felt as though he had only slept for two minutes. But combined with the fact he was sleeping either in the woods, on the road, or in broken down cars for six weeks, it would be expected that he would be tired.

"Hey sorry, I didn't mean to upset you Hogarth," Dexter apologized.

"It's fine, I'm just exhausted, I haven't had a chance to even sleep in a nice bed for a long time," he responded very tired.

"Come on buddy," Tut said motioning them to come with them, "as soon as we get to the camp you'll have a lot of time to sleep"

They walked outside of the room and opened the door to the outside. The sun wasn't up yet, it wasn't fully dark but it was on the brink of dawn.

"Why do we have to get up this early," Hogarth asked.

"This camp is very far from what I've heard and if we get a head start we can be there before it gets dark."

"I'll take that into consideration," Hogarth mumbled.

They started off on the road and began to walk. As they were getting out of the suburban neighborhood they found some walkers perched up by a bridge that led out of the neighborhood. They easily took them out.

"Hey how about we sing some songs while we're walking to liven up the mood," Hogarth suggested, sounding less cantankerous and more optimistic.

"Certainly couldn't hurt," Dexter said with happiness.

"What will we sing," Tut asked.

"Ummm, how about "Money" by Pink Floyd," Hogarth suggested.

"All right, I love that song," Dexter said

"Yeah, cool," Tut said as they started singing.

Hogarth: _Money, to get away._

Tut: _To get a good job with more pay and you're o-kay_

Dexter: _Money it's a crime, grab that cash with both hands and make a stash._

All: _New car, caviar, four star, daydream, think I'll buy me a football team."_

They walked down the road singing for the next couple hours. Hoping it was a good way to get their minds off of what was happening now.

* * *

_Meanwhile, far away_

Annie Hughes had left her home and was going all over the place. She took shelter in the woods and kept as quiet as she could. She brought some rations and hoped for the best. She wasn't an experienced hunter or that skilled in combat or guns. She owed that to both her husband and her son.

She hoped wherever they were, that they were okay. She didn't know that Dean was dead and that her son was on the road looking for her. Right now though her rations were nearly gone and she would starve. Every night she prayed, hoping that her son and husband would make it to her, and also that she would live.

One morning she awoke in an old abandoned shed that she hid in to prevent those creatures from coming in. She left the shed and started walking through the woods. There weren't any of those creatures around, but looks could be deceiving.

She walked for hours through the woods until the sun has risen. Maybe if she looked around hard enough she would be able to find some animals that she could kill for food. Even though she didn't have much survival experience she was able to be stealthy and catch up on things before they ever got away.

Finally she saw a couple rabbits coming out of their holes for the morning.

"Good, they'll last me for a little while," she said with relief.

She walked around the tree and pulled out a utility knife she had brought with her when she left the house. She decided she was going to jump on top of them and take each one of them out. As she was about to jump and take out some of the rabbits, something very unexpected happened.

Several arrows were shot out and they struck each of the rabbits dead instantly. Annie gasped as she looked at the sight of the dead animals. She then heard footsteps approaching from not that far behind.

In fear she ducked behind the bushes. She peered from behind one to see who it was. A figure wearing a red cloak and a red hood walked up to the dead rabbits. The figure had a bow and arrow with a bag full of arrows on their back. The figure took out another bag and gathered up the rabbits.

Annie decided that it was time to leave now. But as she stepped back she stepped on a stick. She panicked, looking down and then abruptly turning back to the figure. The figure heard the sound and stood up, taking off the red hood. What was revealed had Annie standing there with her mouth agape.

The figure was actually a full human sized mouse. The mouse was also a girl who looked to be no more than in her mid twenties, well from what Annie could tell. The mouse turned to where Annie was hiding and spoke.

"Come on out, you don't have to be afraid of me friend," the mouse said in a kind and gentle voice.

Annie decided to step out from her hiding place. She was scared though as there was no possible way that a human sized mouse, that could talk, was actually standing right before her now.

"H-Hello, who-who are you," she said with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Elizabeth Brisby," the mouse responded giving a courteous bow to the new woman she had met.

"Anna Hughes, but friends call me Annie," she said.

"Okay then, Annie, I guess you were probably out her looking for food as well as me," Elizabeth said to her.

"Y-yes I've been out here for weeks, trying to find a group," she responded.

"Well I guess you found the right person, I'm part of a survival group down by the river," she said with a smile, "if you're interested you'd be welcome to join us."

Annie then felt a spark of relief. After so many weeks of walking, running, hiding and surviving, finally getting to be in a group of people was the best thing that could happen.

"Yes, yes I'd be very interested," she said with a smile.

"Well then follow me, I'll show you where it is," Elizabeth said as she led the way.

"ELIZABETH, ELIZABETH" another female voice cried.

"Oh that must be Cleo," she said with a hint of worry.

"Cleo?"

"Oh she's another member of the group, you'll like her she's very kind," Elizabeth said.

A young girl of around 14 came running out from the woods. Wearing a pink hoodie jacket and carrying a crossbow she ran over to Elizabeth and Annie. She stopped there for a second to catch her breath.

"Elizabeth...there's...more...coming," she tried to say in between pants.

"Cleo, take a second to catch your breath," Elizabeth said patting her friend on the back.

The girl then calmed down after a couple seconds and spoke very clearly. "Elizabeth, I went down by the stream to find some animals for food, but I found that a huge horde of those things are heading our way, we've gotta get back to the camp and shut everything so they can't get to us."

"Oh Jesus, we better get going," Elizabeth said in worry.

"Who's this," Cleo asked after seeing Annie.

"Oh this is Annie, I found her while in the woods, don't worry she's friendly and she needs help."

"Pleasure to meet you Cleo," Annie said holding out her hand for a handshake. Just then more than a dozen walkers came out of the deep woods and made their way right towards the three girls.

"Yeah, yeah whatever we'll talk when we get back, NOW LET'S GO," she screamed.

The three girls then took off running and ran as fast as they could to get back to the campsite in the hope that the walkers wouldn't find them first.

* * *

A few hours had passed since the boys had left their original hideout. It was now mid morning and they were still walking down the road alternating between singing and talking in between conversation. Now they were singing some Springsteen songs and dancing in the abandoned street.

All: _Prove it all night, prove it all night, girl there's nothing else that we can do. So prove it all night, prove it all night, and girl I prove it all night for your love._

"Oh man I love that song," Hogarth said now in a better mood then he was when he first woke up.

"Yeah, nobody can help but get up and dance and sing whenever that song comes on," Dexter responded happily.

"Hey uh, I never got the chance to ask this but umm, did you guys ever play any musical instruments before," Tut asked.

"Hell yeah, I play guitar all the time, but I also took to harmonica, synthesizer, bass. My stepdad taught me how to play a lot of this stuff," Hogarth said in a happy tone.

"Cool, I played drums on and off occasionally, but I never really got enough time to do it," Dexter said, "a lot of school work and projects to do."

"What about you Tut?" Hogarth asked, "even in old Egypt did you play any instruments?"

"Well before I was crowned king I used to be the harp player for my father who was the previous king, when Cleo brought me back she was in a little band playing bass and she taught me how to do it," Tut said.

"Cleo seems like a nice girl, is she pretty?" Hogarth asked.

"Mmm-hmm, I bet she'd like you Hogarth, she's really into all this music and stuff."

As they were talking Dexter saw an RV parked on the road far ahead of them. Looking on he saw what looked like a man standing outside of it. Dexter felt a hint of joy in his brain. Maybe this guy could give them a lift to the camp.

"Hey Dexter you alright," Hogarth asked.

This snapped him out of his daze and he turned over to his friends. "See that guy over there," he said pointing over to the man, "maybe if we get on his good side he can give us a lift to the camp."

"But just to be safe guys, I'm gonna take this out." Hogarth pulled out his rifle and loaded it with two shots. Just in case this guy had other intentions to kill them. They would need to be prepared.

They walked closer to the man and starting shouting in order to the get the man's attention.

"HEY THERE"

"HELLO"

"CAN YOU HELP US"

The man seemed to notice them and turned up looking to where the sound came from.

Dexter decided to speak trying to introduce themselves to the man. "Hey there, do you think you can help us, we've been walking for a while and we need a lift to.."

"GET YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR," the man yelled at them.

"What?" they all responded in confusion.

"YOU HEARD ME GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS IN THE AIR ASSHOLES," the man yelled. He then pulled out a rifle and aimed it at the three of them. Just like Hogarth suspected this guy was not one of the good ones.

"Look we don't want any trouble, we were just wondering if..." Tut tried to say in an attempt to calm things down.

"YOU FOUND TROUBLE KID, NOW GET YOUR HANDS UP," he screamed.

"Can I pull out my gun now," Hogarth asked.

"Go right ahead," Dexter said.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME I SAID GET YOUR.."

"SHUT UP ASSHOLE," Hogarth yelled at him. He had pulled out his rifle and aimed it at the man. "You put down your gun and drive away and we won't have a problem, but if you try anything I'll shoot."

The man just scoffed at this, "oh I'm so scared of a little brat with a gun, oh mommy help me, help me," he said in a mocking tone.

"Look just put down your gun and I'll put down mine, alright." Hogarth told the man, not wanting to fight.

"Fine," the man said lowering his pistol.

Hogarth then put down his gun and they all walked closer to the man. Hogarth decided to do the talking from here on in. "Okay, we got off on the wrong foot, we've been walking for days and we just want to,... AWWW." Hogarth got that far before the man punched him right in the stomach. Hogarth recovered quickly and having finally lost his temper released his anger on the man.

"SON OF A BITCH," he screamed punching the man right in the face.

The man didn't seem affected and punched Hogarth right to the ground. Dexter came to his aid. "YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT." He tried to attack but was easily subdued to the ground by the man. Tut tried to fight as well but in a mere couple of seconds he was on the ground too. The man then took out his rifle and aimed it straight at Hogarth's head.

Hogarth looked up at him and saw that he was smiling. "After I'm done with you, you're little friends are gonna be next. I've killed so many of these things already, you'll be a walk in the park, any last words kid."

Hogarth looked at him straight in the face. He had finally hit his boiling point and he wasn't going to lose.

"Suck my big fat dick, you cheap dime store hood" he said in a quiet tone.

With that he jumped up and slugged the man right in the stomach. Dexter and Tut came right to his aid.

"HOLD HIM DOWN," Hogarth instructed.

Dexter pushed him to the ground and kept his face there while Tut and Hogarth kept delivering beating after beating to his face. Tut then held him up by his hair and held his knife to his throat. Hogarth had pulled out his still loaded rifle and aimed it directly at his head.

"I'll let you off with a last warning, you let us go and never come and find us," he said, "but if you try anything I'll put a bullet right in your head."

"Yeah sure, I'll lose a fight to a stupid, weak, and defenseless little kid," the man said mocking him and laughing.

"Let's put him out of his misery," Hogarth said sarcastically.

"Happily," Dexter and Tut both said.

They then prepared to both shoot him and cut his throat but something immediately stopped them dead in their tracks.

"STOP."

_Well we have a new enemy on the road. To point out this enemy is Adam Sandler's character Davey from Eight Crazy Nights. Because I hated that movie so much I've decided to make him into one of the other antagonists who I promise will die first. Also I have introduced Elizabeth Brisby from the Secret of NIMH in my story. Now I will give a clear explanation to why she is here in following chapters. In the next chapter we'll see what happens. That is all I have to say. _

_VGA_


	5. Chapter 5 Safety and Shelter

**Chapter 5: Safety and Shelter****  
**

"STOP"

As Hogarth was about to put a bullet in the man's head two other voices cried out. With that they stopped and looked on. Two more boys come out of the RV and were standing right in front of them, also carrying rifles, bags, and survival gear.

One was a boy with jet black hair who looked to be about 14 years old and was wearing a white T-shirt, jeans, and basketball sneakers. The other looked to be around 13 years old with blonde hair, a baseball cap, wearing a vest with a plaid button down shirt underneath.

They had threatening looks on their faces and probably would've shot Hogarth and Tut if they'd gotten the chance.

"Who the hell are you guys," Hogarth asked angrily.

"He's with us just let him go and we'll let you guys leave," the kid with the jet black hair said.

"He tried to kill us," Dexter said angrily, "he fucking attacked us right here and was about to kill us."

"Davey, did you?" the blonde haired kid asked.

"No they attacked me," Davey said, "they came up and just starting beating me right here."

Hogarth looked Davey in the eyes and saw him shoot an evil grin towards him. This sent him over the edge as he finally lost his temper and exploded.

"YOU FUCKING LIAR!" he screamed at him, "HE'S LYING, THIS PIECE OF SHIT JUST ATTACKED US RIGHT HERE AND WE JUST WANTED SOME HELP."

Tut pulled him away, "don't make our situation even worse, dude." He then decided to take over the talking. "Look we don't want any trouble, we just want to get up and go alright?"

"Well I guess we can settle this easily, why are you out here anyway," the black haired kid asked.

Hogarth had finally calmed down and decided to talk, "we were heading to find a group out here, it won't be safe out here for much longer so we wanted to find a survival camp out in these parts."

"That's where we've been heading," the blonde said, "if you'd be interested we would happily help you guys get to where you're going."

"You're kidding me, you'd like it if these little brats came along," Davey said angrily.

"Well it sounds like a good idea and we could use the extra help," the black haired kid said.

"Even after what they did to me," Davey snapped.

"Davey after everything you've done on this trip, I highly doubt we're gonna believe you now," the blonde said with a sarcastic look.

Davey didn't want to lose this fight and he wanted this annoying kids out of his way right now. For a brief second he saw Hogarth's bandaged arm and decided to make up a lie in order to have him killed.

"But one of them is bitten," he shrieked.

"What?" the black haired and blonde said in unison.

Everybody seemed shocked by this but the only two who seemed to be incredulous to this statement were Dexter and Tut. Hogarth looked down at his bandaged arm and found that's what they were talking about.

"No, no, no, I...I...I got it when I fell out of a car when this whole thing started," he said firmly "I was never bitten by the walkers."

"Walkers?" the other two boys said confused.

"He's trying to cover it up, shoot him down right now," Davey yelled.

"It's impossible he would've turned by now if he was bitten," Dexter said in defense of his friend.

"I don't understand, what does being bitten have to do with this." Hogarth didn't understand, what would being bitten have to do with any part of this.

"ENOUGH," the black haired kid yelled.

"I'll settle this, I'll see if it really is a bite, Davey go inside the RV and wait," he said.

"No I want him dead now before he..."

"I SAID GO!"

Davey sulked off into the RV and the black haired kid came close to Hogarth.

"Just untie the bandages and I'll see."

Hogarth did as he was told and undid the bandages on his arm. His six week old wound wasn't as bad as before. It was scabbing over and would eventually heal. The boy examined Hogarth's wound and very quickly came to a conclusion.

"He wasn't bitten. This wound is healing fine and if it was a 'walker' bite," he said still confused by that name given to the creatures, "his temperature would be through the roof and he would be coughing up blood."

"I think we should've talked about that Hogarth," Tut said.

"What?"

"If a person is bitten by these things, they'll get very sick and will eventually die," the blonde said, "and then they will end up becoming one of these things."

"We've seen it happen to a lot of people," the black haired boy said.

"Well now that this whole thing is settled, do you guys wanna come with us," the blonde asked.

Each of the boys said yes but in their own different way.

"Sure."

"Why not."

"Certainly would be the best option."

"Will that friend of yours be able to deal with it," Dexter asked.

"He'll be pissed off but he'll eventually give in," the blonde said.

"I'm Hogarth, and these are my friends Dexter and Tutenstein."

"Names Danny, Danny Fenton," the black haired boy said.

"And I'm Arnold," the blonde said.

"Nice to meet you," they each said and they all shook hands. With that they all got into the van but when Davey saw that the boys he wanted dead were still alive he was much displeased.

"YOU DIDN'T KILL THESE FUCKERS," he screamed.

Danny slapped Davey and yelled right in his face.

"Look Davey, we've put up with your shit for a long time now, trying to lie to get us to off three guys on the road is pure bullshit. They are coming with us whether you like it or not so just fucking deal with it and shut the fuck up."

"Fine," he said begrudgingly and slumped back in the driver's seat starting the van.

"How do you put up with this guy," Tut asked.

"Just show him who's boss and don't let him be an asshole to you." Arnold told him

The RV then started and they all started driving down the road.

* * *

_Elsewhere_

The three women were running as fast as they could to try and get back to the campsite. Eventually they came across a gated fence to an area in the middle of a clearing in the woods.

"SAM OPEN THE GATES," Cleo yelled.

Another girl went down and pulled open the gates.

"HURRY GET IN" she shrieked.

They ran right in and they shut the gates right there, locking it with a combination lock.

"I see we have more mouths to feed," the girl named Sam said in a sarcastic but at the same time cheerful tone. This girl named Sam was a goth girl wearing a skirt, thigh high boots, and had black hair (probably dyed) with certain hair accessories.

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding anywhere," Annie said worried she probably offended the other girl.

"No don't worry we've got plenty of room here, and it's nice to have new acquaintances," she said with friendly air, "My name is Samantha Manson, but friends call me Sam."

"Annie," she replied as she shook hands with Sam.

"I managed to find several rabbits Sam," Elizabeth said handing over her pack of game to the other girl.

"Good job Elizabeth, this'll last for a good amount of time," Sam said happily.

Just then a little mouse that looked to be about four came running out. She was wearing a ribbon around her waist like a dress and was carrying what looked like a little rag teddy bear.

"Mommy, you're back" the little mouse squealed in delight running into the arms of the mouse with the red cloak.

"Woah, Cynthia careful, you're getting to big for Mommy to hold," Elizabeth said playfully as she embraced what appeared to be her daughter.

"Where are your sister and brothers Cynthia," Elizabeth asked

"They're all playing with Tucker, Mommy," Cynthia said.

"Go along and play with them, I've got some work to finish okay?"

"Okay," the little mouse squeaked before dashing off giggling.

"I always knew that the techno geek had something that was good about him, especially when it came to taking care of children."

"Is that your daughter," Annie asked.

"Yes, she's my youngest actually, I have four children, two boys and two girls," Elizabeth said smiling, "what about you any kids?"

"I only have one son, but he's not here right now," Annie tried to keep from breaking down. She just hoped that wherever her son was he was alright and that he would find her soon. She felt very guilty just leaving him on his own like that. But she brushed those thoughts aside and decided to ask the one question that was on her mind.

"Elizabeth, I don't mean to be intrusive but, why is it that you a mouse, are standing upright, talking to me and have human characteristics," she asked.

"Well here's the thing," Elizabeth said, "I was part of a colony hidden in the mountains called Thorn Valley."

"Thorn Valley, that's up in the mountains near the Catskills isn't it?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said. "Years ago, a group of mice and rats were experimented on by the National Institute of Mental Health or NIMH. From these experiments the mice and rats grew human level intelligence and also became human sized as well. One of those mice was my husband Jonathan." Elizabeth explained in full detail.

"Were you one of those mice," Annie asked.

"No, I was just a regular field mouse, however, several NIMH scientists went looking for the mice and rats but in the process they released several of the chemicals that mutated the rats and mice, it then mutated the mice and rats that were in the area and I, along with my family, were one of the many to be exposed.

"So this colony you were part of, what exactly was it," Annie asked still curious as to what it was.

"After we were exposed to the NIMH chemicals we decided to set up a colony in the Catskills where Thorn Valley was. I met Jonathan my husband and we had our four children, it was always kept a secret until now when this whole thing with the undead started. When all the attacks began we tried to secure ourselves to be protected but then Nicodemus passed and everything went to chaos," Elizabeth stopped speaking and looked down at the ground for a moment with a sullen gaze as if she was remembering a horrible memory and trying to suppress it, "anyway I left Thorn Valley with my children and came here."

"Pretty much when the dead came around and everything went to shit, that's when we all got scattered," Sam said as she came up and sat down right next to Annie.

"Elizabeth, I remember you saying you have a husband, where is he" Annie asked.

Elizabeth closed her eyes for a couple minutes as tears went down her cheeks. When she spoke her voice was full of sadness, "He disappeared about two years ago, they never found his body. So we just assumed he died."

Annie was immediately filled with regret and guilt and tried her best to apologize. "Elizabeth, I'm very sorry, I shouldn't have asked that," she said, "I didn't mean to offend you in any way."

Elizabeth wiped her tears away with her hands and stood upright and firm. "It's alright, I'm pretty much over it, but I don't feel like talking about it right now."

Annie then turned to Sam about to ask her some questions. "So what about you Sam where were you when this all started?"

"I was just going to junior high and living life as a goth, vegetarian and humanitarian with my boyfriend Danny and a lot of my other friends as well."

"Everything just started and we just left with our families, Tucker and I ran away from the first survival camp we were in and now we're trying to find Danny."

Just then an African American boy of around 14 came in view with the little girl Cynthia and four other children hanging all over him. He and the children were all laughing as he was tackled by the four mice kids.

Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh as she got up and walked over to the kids as they tackled the teenage boy.

"Okay kids, I think Tucker's had enough so let him up,"

The kids whined but obliged and got off of Tucker. He then got up and wiped himself clean of dirt and grass.

"Thanks for taking care of my children," she said shaking his hand.

"It was no problem at all, you have very energetic and lovely children," Tucker said in a polite and gentleman like tone.

He then walked over to Sam and sat down wiping his forehead in exhaustion. "Whew those kids are a handful to take care of," he said tiredly.

Elizabeth gathered up the four kids and brought them over to Annie. Of course there was Cynthia, but there was another girl with a bow on her head wearing a dress. Then there were two boys one being chubby and another very skinny.

"Well you already met Cynthia so here are the others. This beautiful little one is Teresa, and the two boys here are Martin and Timmy."

Each of the children said hello to Annie and she kindly returned the greeting.

"What happened out there Mama," Timmy asked.

"We ran into some of those things out there but it was no big deal, we got out just in time."

The pudgy one named Martin picked up a stick and stepped forward, "I should've been there Ma, I would stop those things in a minute cuz I ain't scared of nothin," he said trying to act brave.

"Martin, this is serious, people have died because of these things and we need to stay safe."

"Is she gonna stay with us Mother?" Teresa asked.

"Of course honey, now children why don't you all go down to the lake and get washed up, we're going to have lunch soon."

The children did as they were told and ran off.

"So you said you had a son too, what was he like," Elizabeth asked.

"He's an angel, very kind, energetic, optimistic and musical," Annie said.

"Musical?" Elizabeth asked confused.

"Yes, you know when he was around five years old I went into his room one day and found him listening to all of these old records that my former husband just had in the basement. He started to play guitar after that and he made really good progress. He was always begging me to take him to all of these concerts but I never did it."

Annie couldn't help but laugh as she remembered all of those fond memories she had of her son. Even in this really bad time it's good to think back to happier memories. They make you strong and give you hope that everything will get better.

"I just hope he makes it here," Annie said as she frowned.

"I bet he will, just keep your chin up and keep hoping he'll make it," Elizabeth said as she got up and walked off.

"I know he'll make it," Annie said. She knew that her son was determined and brave and he would do anything to find her.

**Well I finally introduced new characters from Danny Phantom and Hey Arnold. Now I know there are plotholes here regarding the Rats of NIMH origins but I must say this isn't canon and it doesn't follow the original story. Either way this chapter got up really good and I'll be starting on the next one as well. For followers of my Underrated Classics series for An American Tail. I will be continuing it as I've come up with new ideas and have gotten back to writing some good chapters. That's all I have to say for now.**

**VGA**


	6. Chapter 6: The New World Order

_I decided to name this after a lyric from Bruce Springsteen's Ghost of Tom Joad that did have a lot of meaning to this._

**Chapter 6: Welcome to the New World Order**

It was close to evening now in the quiet abandoned city. The RV that held Dexter, Hogarth, Danny, Arnold, Tut, and Davey was moving along the road in the dimly lit sky. Eventually it came to a stop in an old abandoned gas station.

The teenagers had fallen asleep in the back seat of the RV but they were rudely awakened by Davey.

"Come on ladies, get up we have to stop here for the night," he said.

Hogarth, not wanting to get kicked in the face again like he was this morning, especially by the guy who nearly murdered him on the road, decided to just get up.

"Alright, alright I'm up."

The others followed along and got up.

"Why do we have to stop here, couldn't we just keep going," Dexter asked

"Oh yeah we'll just keep going, and just lose all our energy and end up dead by the next morning, use your head shit-for-brains," Davey responded rudely.

"Stop it Davey," Arnold snapped in response, "he just asked a question that doesn't give you the right to.."

Arnold was then tapped by Danny who whispered in his ear, "don't pick a fight with him remember what happened when we first met him."

Arnold shut his mouth and just walked outside the RV to take a look around the gas station.

"What do you want us to do out here," Hogarth asked.

Davey pulled out a bottle of whiskey, "just go out to the gas station and get any shit we need, then get back here," he said as he started to drink down his bottle.

"Can't you come with us," Tut asked, "we could use the extra hands."

"Yeah sure, I'm hearing that from the guy who nearly killed me on the street today, HAHAHAHA" Davey cackled as he was now wasted.

Hogarth just sighed in disgust and stepped out of the RV. The others followed right behind him and they started to walk up to the gas station.

"I fucking hate that douchebag," Dexter said.

"The feeling's mutual for all of us I guess," Danny said in response.

"How'd you end up with that bum, and how come he doesn't have any problem with you guys," Tut asked.

"We'll have to tell you that a little later, let's clear out the gas station."

They didn't have the same experience as in the supermarket where a walker just attacked them. It was much more mild than that, but didn't have many rewards to offer.

* * *

It was cleared very shortly of nothing but extra water bottles and food from vending machines. After that the five boys went back to the RV and lit up a fire outside and just talked.

"So like I said before how'd you end up with him," Tut asked.

"Well I was the first to go with Davey," Danny said, "he and I lived in the same town and well he was kind of a close friend of my family, so he had no problem tolerating me."

"You actually trust him," Hogarth said in shock believing that that bum could trust anybody.

"Look he's been through a lot already just don't make it hard for him, but I can't stand how he treats other people he comes across."

Arnold took over the talking, "what happened on the road with you guys probably would've happened to me, I was low on my rations and I was lying in the middle of the road, they came up and Davey didn't want me to come but Danny helped me get into the group."

"Well where were you guys before all this happened?" Dexter asked.

Danny told them his story. His parents were scientists researching the supernatural and he just lived in Amity Park. "I just lived there with my girlfriend Sam Manson and my buddy Tucker." He laughed to himself remembering the good times.

"When the walkers came around and people started going to different shelters for survival, my parents thought we could hide it out so we sealed ourselves in our house. It worked for a while but eventually... they got to us and I lost my family." Danny looked down at the ground and covered his eyes. For several minutes he stayed like that until he pulled himself together and sat upright.

"So what you're parents were _ghostbusters_ I guess," Dexter said finding it funny.

"Well sort of but not really, they believed that they could find a way to connect the human world with the ghost world and well something kind of happened with me..." Danny said falling back as if he was hiding something.

"What is it," Hogarth asked being the first to suspect something.

After a couple minutes, Danny cleared his head and decided to tell them. "Okay promise you won't freak out when I tell you this, I already told Arnold and he didn't take it that well."

"I did" Arnold snapped.

"Hell no you didn't dude, you probably would've shot me right there if you had the chance."

"Just tell us the secret," Tut said impatiently not wanting to have another argument on his hands for the third time today.

"Okay, here goes."

Out of nowhere Danny just disappeared and turned invisible. Everybody looked around trying to find him.

"Danny where are you," they all asked.

"I'm right here," Arnold said but he was talking in Danny's voice.

"HOLY SHIT" they all shrieked.

Immediately Danny appeared again coming back from nowhere. Arnold look at him with a frown.

"Hey why do you have to overshadow me," he said annoyed.

"Cause you're the only one I can trust."

"Dude, what the fuck did you just do," Hogarth asked, "are you just a ghost or something."

"Well partially, a while back I went into this portal my parents had made. When I went inside I pressed a button and the portal turned on. When that happened ghost ectoplasm went into my DNA and then I became part human and part ghost."

"Dude that is the most," Dexter said but stopped mid sentence, "fucking awesome thing I've ever seen in my life."

Danny couldn't help but smile at this, "glad to know you're not upset."

"So does that mean you can't die even if you're bitten?" Tut asked.

"Unfortunately no," Danny said as his expression turned serious, "I can still be bitten if I let my guard down when we come across the walkers. But with my ghost powers I will be able to get past them."

After that they turned to Arnold, curious about what happened with him when everything started.

"So Arnold, what happened with you," Dexter asked.

"I had already run away from home," he answered, "I was arguing with my grandparents about my future so I pretty much just said 'fuck it' and left."

He covered his face with his hand and sighed, "I shouldn't have done that, because my grandparents could be dead and I just left them there. Anyway I was on the road for a while now and when everything started I looted stores and stole weapons to fight and then I met Danny and Davey while on the road. Same thing happened with you guys except I was able to prove myself worthy of being rescued."

"Don't let it get to you Arnold, you fucked up, but keep positive and try to let it go and you'll feel better about it," Hogarth said patting Arnold on the back.

"Thanks Hogarth."

Tut had been silent most of the time, and looked on over to the woods, "do you think anything will get better?"

"I think it will, but who wouldn't want to go back to those days," Arnold said in response.

"Yeah who wouldn't want to go back to that, BBQ's, beers, girls, and everything a teenager hopes for," Hogarth said in.

"Welcome to the new world order dude," Danny said, "you have to endure any kind of pain and try to survive, because in this situation it's the only way to live."

"How do you know ghost-boy, we've only had this for six weeks, why won't it get better." Hogarth responded in frustation.

"I didn't say it wouldn't, but right now at this crucial time it's the only way to survive."

This conversation was interrupted by the sounds of moaning and growling coming from not so far behind. The five boys immediately turned their heads and turned to see a dozen walkers coming out of the forest, and from the look of it the numbers of them were growing by the second.

"Jesus Christ, give me a break," Arnold sighed, probably having gone through so many of these things so far.

"Get out your guns," Hogarth commanded.

"No" Danny shouted, "there's too many, we've gotta hide in the van."

"I don't care what we do, let's just get out of here," Tut screamed as he took off towards the van with the others following suit.

Davey was already so wasted that he didn't even hear them and just mumbled incoherent words. "Hey... dudes... did you get the stuff," he mumbled before passing out.

Danny locked the doors to the RV and went right to the back. They shut the blinds and turned off all sounds to not attract attention.

Hogarth looked out the window through the blinds and saw that over a hundred of these things have gathered outside already.

For several hours the group just laid inside the RV hearing the sounds of the walkers as they went by, making it hard for them to fall asleep. Eventually fatigue got to all of the and they all fell asleep. Despite that fear still plagued their dreams and made them even more fearful. They just hoped they would wake up safely the next morning without any worry whatsoever.

_Well that played out good, we got some character development in and some more action on the way soon. The next chapter I will try to add more cool stuff in it as the group gets closer to the camp where they're missing allies are. Hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you soon._

_VGA_


	7. Chapter 7: A Day in the Woods

**Chapter 7: A Day in the ****Woods**

Annie Hughes awoke in the area where she met Elizabeth, Sam, Cleo, Tucker, and Elizabeth's children the previous day. After having been able to find a respectable group of people she was finally at ease. But not completely.

For the night the group would hide in parked cars outside of the perimeter. They had driven so far into the forest there was no way they could find their way out. And they were good places to hide during walker attacks during the night if herds ever came out of the woods.

The car she slept in was pretty spacious and could hold up to eight people in total. Inside the car with her was Elizabeth and Cleo who were in the driver and passenger seat and were still asleep.

Before they went to sleep, Elizabeth and Cleo said they would take her out into the woods the next day to show her how to hunt and how to use certain weapons to defend herself against an attack.

Also Elizabeth had shown Annie her secrets to medicines and treatments for certain injuries using medicinal herbs and treatment techniques.

Elizabeth then awoke in her seat as she stretched and yawned before looking over to Annie.

"Morning," she said with a smile.

Annie gave her a wave of the hand and a smile to return the gesture. Just then, Cleo awoke.

"Hey girls, I guess we'll be working hard today, we gotta get hunting for food, and we gotta teach you how to hunt Annie."

"Yeah I guess," Annie said disgruntled at how she couldn't hunt anything properly.

"Don't worry," Elizabeth said, "by the end of the day you'll be shooting rabbits with a bow and arrow just as well as you can go and shoot bucks and deer with a shotgun."

"What?" Annie asked confused.

"I don't know I was just rambling on with random stuff in an attempt to lighten up your sullen mood," Elizabeth said before she laid back in the seat and laughed hysterically with Cleo joining along as well, and Annie joining in right behind them. Eventually they got themselves together and decided it was time to leave the van.

Elizabeth opened the door to the front of the van and looked around for a brief moment. "All clear," she said with a thumbs up.

Each of them got out of the van and went to meet up with the others. Sam and Tucker were both out overlooking the perimeter trying to keep a watch out for walkers. Elizabeth's children were sitting in a corner outside playing.

"Good morning everyone, how's it going," Tucker said to them enthusiastically.

"Pretty good," Cleo said as she rubbed her eyes, still a little tired.

Annie had gotten to know the new members of the group very well yesterday. She could tell right from the start that they were good people. If she hadn't have met them, by now she would probably be still out there in the woods starving to death, just waiting for the walkers to come and finish her.

Tucker Foley was the most enthuisiastic of the group. He was energetic, quick witted, and a huge jokester. He was also a huge techno geek, always rambling about everything technological, computers, cell phones, the Internet, everything. But despite that he still was a nice guy and he was good with kids, having taken care of Elizabeth's children several times before.

Sam Manson was sort of the opposite of Tucker. While she was polite and kind, she was very quiet and reserved, but by no means antisocial. She really cared about the animals and environment they live in. The other day she refused to eat the rabbits that Elizabeth had gotten in the woods.

Cleo was an entirely different story. At times she just changed from different emotions. She could be energetic, calm, collected, serious, angry, sad, happy. To Annie it felt like Cleo had been through so much already and it was taking it's toll on her, but she didn't want to say anything about it, as that could lead to more trouble.

"Elizabeth," Sam said quickly, "last night several of those things came by and damaged the fence, we need some extra reinforcements around the perimeter to fix it, can you stay by this morning for a while."

"Well," Elizabeth said, "I was going to take Annie out to the woods to...,"

"I'll do it," Cleo jumped in interrupting Elizabeth.

Everybody was taken aback by Cleo's offer, as it just seemed so sudden and on the spur of the moment. Elizabeth turned to Cleo and whispered to her quietly so no one could hear her.

"Cleo, are you sure about this, I could just fix it and we'll do it later."

"I'm sure Liz, this is an important thing right now and we need to get this chick here to learn how to hunt if she's going to survive. I can't see another person die and we have to be prepared. Go and out and show her the ropes and I'll stay here and helped them fix the fence."

"Whatever you say," Elizabeth said having given up on trying to convince her.

"Come on Annie, let's go," Elizabeth said as she gathered her bow, her arrows, and her bags, along with some pistols.

Annie nodded and went with her. As they left the area she looked back at Cleo, who had begun to set the fence back up.

"She shouldn't have to go through all of this, she's just a kid."

* * *

The two women walked through the woods looking for game, which there wasn't very much of this morning. They talked amongst themselves about different things. Mostly what had happened for the last couple of weeks since all of this started.

"I'm very surprised that you were able to survive on your own this long, especially since you don't have any experience in combat," Elizabeth told her quietly

"I just ran and just looked for anything I could find, also I brought rations with me to last me a month." Annie responded.

"What about you," she asked.

"Back in Thorn Valley, I always used to do archery as a child, I could always get the center of the board without even trying," she laughed to herself, "ah good times, good times."

"What did you actually do for a living while in the Valley," Annie asked.

"I was a medic and assistant with the main doctor Mr. Horatio Ages, he was a good man."

"Is he dead," Annie asked worriedly.

"No he's just missing, we were all separated when we left," Elizabeth said quickly, "what about you."

"Schoolteacher, teaching kids writing and literature, all that crap," she said with a laugh.

They came across the tree where they met yesterday. Elizabeth went over and used her knife to carve a symbol of an arrow board onto the tree. She walked over to Annie and handed her crossbow over to Annie and loaded it.

"Now look through the scope of it and then when your ready push the trigger. Take a deep breath before you do it, I felt that when I did that I could get the shot better."

Annie did just that and hit the tree. Not in the center but at a good shot. Elizabeth gave a little nod in response.

"Pretty good, just keep trying it and we'll see if you improve."

They did this again and again for a good twenty minutes until finally Annie started getting the shots in the center and was doing it consistently.

"I didn't think I would learn this fast," she said to Elizabeth grinning.

"That's probably because it's basically a gun, not a real bow and arrow. Which reminds me, come along I'll get you to your next most usable weapon." Elizabeth said before she turned and walked.

Annie followed her and coming to a clearing, Elizabeth took out a small pistol from her bag and handed it to Annie. Annie took it with an unsteady hand, having never held a gun before.

"Don't worry, it's a silencer so it won't make any noise," Elizabeth said with a pat on the back. Then she pointed her in a direction towards some rabbits.

"Use what you already know from the crossbow and shoot those rabbits, remember aim, take a deep breath, and then pull the trigger. But three times now since there are a couple there."

"Okay," Annie responded quietly.

She then took the gun and aimed it at the rabbits, the same way she aimed the crossbow. She then took a deep breath and in a second pulled the trigger three times.

Each shot took out all three of the rabbits as each bullet struck them dead. Annie looked at the gun in her hands. She couldn't believe it. She had actually learned how to shoot today and did it well.

"Good job," Elizabeth said enthusiastically, "those should last the group members for a little while."

"Thanks Elizabeth, you were a great help, I never thought I would ever have to shoot a gun until now."

"Well you still need to get used to it, that's why you're going to be my hunting partner for when we go out and get food," she said smirking.

"Are you sure," Annie said reluctantly.

"Of course," Elizabeth said in disbelief, "who else will there be to help me here."

"Well I won't argue, so I guess I accept to be your hunting partner."

"Excellent," she said, "come on let's get the food and get out of here before those things show up."

They went over and gathered the rabbits putting them in their bags. Just then something hit Annie. At this point she really felt she had to ask Elizabeth this.

"Hey Elizabeth, can I ask you something," she said.

"What?"

"Do you actually eat rabbits, I mean I wouldn't suspect a mouse would."

Elizabeth looked up smirking and said, "No I don't, I only eat vegetables and fish, if I would go as far as to eat rabbits, I'd be a fucking abomination in the face of my species."

She then started laughing hysterically with Annie joining right in behind her. They then gathered up the rest of the rabbits and went back to the camp.

_It's finally done. I still have more to go but I finally got this out of the way. Good to be back and to see my fellow writers here on the web. I'd like to give a shout out to Guest Calypso, Sharks Potter, AngelaMay234, and other writers. I hope you all are doing well and I hope to see a lot from you all again soon. Good luck to you in all of your work. _

Sincerely yours

Videogameaddict237


	8. Chapter 8: On the Road

**Chapter 8: On the Road**

It was mid-morning on the deserted road in a small rustic area of Albany, New York. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of walkers that had been hiding in the woods surrounding the area. The silence was then broken by an RV riding down the road.

Inside the RV were the group of six. Hogarth and Danny were sitting at a table playing a game of war, Arnold was looking out the window, capturing all the scenery before him, and Dexter and Tut were fast asleep on the couch and floor snoring loudly. Davey on the other hand was driving the RV as fast as he could. He had woken up this morning with a hangover and it cleary was showing.

"I win" Danny said as he put down his king of hearts card, sounding very bored.

"I win" Hogarth said in reply as he put down king of spades.

"War," they said in unison.

Hogarth drew a higher suit and collected all of Danny's card. Danny laid his head on the table and sighed quietly.

"Man, what I wouldn't give to just play my Ibanez RG again," Danny said in an exhausted tone as he rubbed his head.

"You played guitar," he asked.

"Sure did, my friends at school were always calling me Eddie Van Halen's long lost son Danny, cause I did Eruption at the talent show," he said smirking, "what about you, you play any instruments."

"Yeah," he said shrugging, "I played guitar mostly, but I also did bass, synthesizers, and occasinal percussion. I tried to take up the piano and I managed to get the basics and theory down, even learning some good songs, but it was very boring. I mean do you really need theory to play music."

"Not really," Danny said, "if you're asked to audition you'd have to use it, but I only use it for that, everything else I just use tabs and my ears."

"Yeah me too. I will tell you though, all this pop music doesn't cut it for me. I mean new wave is fine and some bands today are okay but I like genres of rock, metal, and alternative."

"You're telling me, I came from a school where everybody wouldn't shut up about pop and were constantly singing it everyday," Arnold said, "I mostly do keyboards but I play acoustic too and I would always bring my guitar to school, sit down in the back and play rock, like '2112' or 'Wish You Were Here' ".

"Ah Rush and Pink Floyd good times, good times," Hogarth said grinning, remembering two of his favorite rock bands of all time, "quick question, best song by Pink Floyd out of all of them," he asked and after a long pause they all shouted it out.

All: "Comfortably Numb"

"Aw I knew we were all gonna say that," Danny said.

"Yeah geeky minds think alike I suppose."

"By the way, AWWEEESSSOMMME," Arnold said wavy his arms in a girly fashion and speaking in a high pitched effeminate voice.

"HEY, would you idiots quiet down, I'm trying to drive here," Davey yelled from the driver's seat.

"It's your own fault for getting wasted last night," Tut said as he got up from the floor.

"Shut up dead boy," Davey snarled at him. Tut flipped him off when he wasn't looking and turned back to them.

"So, if we're going to make it through this and find the people we're looking for, we'll have to make up a plan."

"Well you can probably tell that we know how to use guns and knives of course," Arnold said, "I'm just self taught on all of them, when I looted stores looking for supplies I took them with me and just picked it up and learned how to use it."

"Good, that'll be very helpful, I already knew how to use it from hunting animals. In my hometown we always gather up for food in the autumn to prepare for incoming winter, that's how I know to use a gun," Hogarth said, "what about you Danny, how did you train, air guns, BB guns."

"Nope," Danny said sitting up from his chair and loading up his revolver, "I used every single weapon in the military class."

"You've done this before," Tut exclaimed.

"My dad was a former member of the NRA. He thought it best to teach his kids how to protect themselves in case of certain danger, but he always thought nothing would happen, especially since he became a ghost expert and stuck to using technology that could somehow trap and capture ghosts, but that's beside the point. He taught he to use all of the basic pistols and rifles, and let me on some secrets on how to use them. So I'm ready for all the action against the walkers."

Dexter had woken up and heard the whole thing and was standing in the corner of the small RV room with a wide eyed open mouth smile on his face.

"Oh my god, the 14 year old ghost boy in the group is a NRA trained soldier."

"I'm really glad that we're all on the same side," Arnold said patting Danny on the back.

"AW SHIT," Davey yelled from the front seat.

The five boys went up to the front where Davey was driving and found that they had came to a highway. Outside were over fifty walkers walking around on the road.

"Jesus Christ," Dexter exasperated, "there's dozens of them."

"What do we do," Tut asked.

"We stay still," Davey said taking his hands off the wheel and putting his hands behind his head.

"WHAT," Danny shrieked, "Are you shitting me you idiot, we're surrounded they'll tear the fucking RV apart."

"We have no other choice," Davey responded.

"They're only a threat to us if we're in they're path. We can run em' down right on the road and they won't hurt us," Arnold said trying to convince Davey to keep moving.

"No, listen to me right here you little bastards, we're staying right here until they pass over and there's nothing you can do to stop me from..." Before he could finish he was knocked over the head with a glass bottle and fell to the floor of the RV out cold.

The person who hit him over the head was none other than Hogarth. He picked up Davey's empty whiskey bottle from the night before and hit him with it.

"Get him out of the seat," Hogarth firmly ordered to Tut and Dexter. They nodded in response and dragged Davey to the back seat of the RV.

Hogarth then got in the front seat and started the RV. The walkers were getting closer to the RV and would tear it apart until they got to them.

"Do you know how to drive," Arnold asked.

"No but how hard can it be," Hogarth said as he set up the keys and jammed forward on the gas pedal. Everybody in the back seat flew back against the back of the van.

The RV then took off like a speeding bullet driving into the path of the walkers. It plowed right through them like a bowling ball to pins knocking them all over the place. One even hit the front of the windshield and tried to climb onto the roof and get in.

"AAHHHH" Hogarth screamed in response to the walker on the windshield and jerked the wheel to the right and the walker went flying right off. The van kept taking off and eventually it was driving on a highway clear of walkers over 75 miles per hour and it was an exciting experience.

"YOO-HOOO" the boys yelled from the excitement of driving really fast on the road.

"This is the most fun I've had since," Dexter said with a smile but stopped straching his head, "God I can't even remember now, how long have we been here for?"

"Probably not for much longer."

At the sudden voice Dexter turned around and saw Davey standing up right in front of him.

"Aw crap," he groaned before being shoved to the side by Davey who came up to the front seat and grabbed Hogarth by the collar of his shirt, picking him up off the ground.

"What did I say to you, you little brat," Davey snarled looking into Hogarth's eyes with a threatening gaze.

"Oh I'm sorry I couldn't hear you over an asshole talking, oh wait that's just you," Hogarth said with a smug grin on his face. In response Davey punched Hogarth in the face, giving him a bloody nose, and threw him to the floor.

"When you're in my car, you listen to me I should've offed you on the road yesterday."

Hogarth got up and wiped his face. "Listen Davey, the walkers would've killed us if we stayed still. I saved your ass so don't give me any shit," he said firmly.

"Fuck off," Davey said getting in the front seat of the car and driving again.

Hogarth went to the back seat and sat down with his friends reloading his gun. Dexter and Tut both looked at him with fear.

"Hogarth, I don't think you should've done that," Dexter assured him, "he would've killed you."

"I don't care," he said, "he doesn't control us and I'm not gonna let him drag us down, if he tries anything we're going to stop him no matter what."

Hogarth went back to loading his gun and stayed quiet for the rest of the day. He wasn't gonna let Davey hurt anybody and he wasn't going to interfere with his mission of finding his mother.


	9. Chapter 9: Anxiety and Stress

**Chapter 9: Anxiety and Stress**

It was close to evening and the group in the woods had settled back and were getting ready for a good meal of the rabbits that Annie had captured today.

Annie was over by the stream sharpening her knives while Tucker was busy getting the food cooked and ready by a fire.

Elizabeth was over with her children, keeping them entertained while dinner was being cooked, and also working on washing some of the clothing. Cleo and Sam were overlooking the outside, keeping a lookout for the walkers.

Annie's fear seemed to have been lifted off her shoulders for the time being. She knew now how to protect herself against the walkers and had managed to get a good amount of food for the group. There was only one problem now though. Where was her family?

She was terribly worried about them and she couldn't tell if they were alive, dead, or one of those things. She just wanted to know, she didn't want to have to go to sleep worrying about the well being of her son or husband. She just wanted to see them again. She wanted to comfort and hug her son and feel the warm embrace of her loving husband. But unfortunately it was all far away from her and she didn't know what to do.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Tucker calling.

"SOUPS ON!"

She put down her knives and went down to the fire. She got her food and went back to where she was, getting back to work while she ate. Sam saw her sitting there by herself and decided to go up there and give her some company.

"Hey there," she said in a welcoming tone.

"Hey Sam, what's up," she said with a grin.

"Nothing, mind if I join you?"

"Not at all, go right ahead."

Sam smiled and sat down beside her, eating her vegetables as she did so. They talked for a while and kept a friendly and quiet conversation.

"So you must be pretty proud of yourself, you provided most of the group with food for the time being. Well at least Tucker and Cleo for that matter. You know that Elizabeth, the kids, and I don't eat meat right?"

Annie chuckled remembering what Elizabeth had told her back in the woods earlier today, "Yeah, when we were in the woods today, I asked that question to Elizabeth and she said to me if she would eat rabbits, she'd be a god damn abomination."

Sam burst into laughter at the quote. She couldn't help herself it was so hilarious the way it was said.

"Well anyway I do feel pretty proud of myself, I was able to supply the group with food and I've learned how to shoot a gun and a crossbow correctly, usually my son would be able to do that correctly. He could shoot a deer straight in the eye."

"Amazing," Sam said with a smirk, "look Annie I know you feel nervous about your son and husband getting here safely."

"Isn't it obvious," Annie remarked coldy.

"You don't have to be, your son will make it here, any kid I know wouldn't be able to make it here, but from what you've told me your son will make it. The only other person I know to make it out here is my boyfriend Danny."

"Why do you think he will," Annie asked curiously.

"He has how should I say it 'special' abilities," Sam said emphasizing the word "special".

"Well the more you say it Sam, the more I get hopeful. Maybe my family will make it here. I'll try to not worry as much, but I can't say I'll stop."

"You don't have to, worrying is a natural thing that you can't control, you can't make it go away but you can ease it," Sam said patting her on the back, "try to think of something better and the worries will go away from your mind."

"Hey Sam, come down here please, I need a hand washing the clothes." Elizabeth called up to her.

"Okay I'm coming," Sam said as she left where Annie was giving her a wave goodbye and went over to Elizabeth. She was washing the clothes and her daughters Teresa and Cynthia were helping her.

"So what did you talk to her about," Elizabeth asked.

"She's very worried about her family Lizzy, I just tried to calm her down a little."

"But that's natural for someone to be anxiou for they're family," Teresa said, "isn't it Mother."

"Yeah, Mommy you would be scared for us too wouldn't you?" Cynthia asked.

"Of course I would girls, it's just that Miss Annie hasn't seen her family for a long time and she's just hoping that wherever they are they'll be alright."

"Well I guess the best thing to do now is just give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe we should help her look for them." Sam suggested.

Elizabeth thought about it for a second and then nodded her head in approval, "I think that's a great idea, it would be a great way to repay her for helping us here."

"Seems like a waste of time," Cleo said pessimistically as she walked up to them, "they're probably already dead."

"You don't know that Cleo," Tucker said as he too came forward, "Christ, why do you have to literally be a pessimist about everything."

"I'm not," she said in her defense, "I'm just saying that the chances of Annie's kid and husband being alive might be bullshit."

"We still owe it to her though, she helped us now we're going to help her," Sam said to her.

"Whatever," Cleo sighed and walked away.

Annie heard the whole thing. She knew that Cleo literally has been through a lot. Maybe she'd talk to her, and try to find a way to get her to open up a little more. Right now though the best thing to do was just try to survive as she had been doing for so long now.

* * *

It was nightime now and everybody was asleep. Annie went into the van where she slept the previous night. In the middle of the night she woke up and found that Cleo wasn't there. She looked out the window and saw her sitting outside looking over into the woods.

"What the hell is she doing," she said to herself.

Quietly she snuck at, so as not to wake Elizabeth and went over to Cleo. She just sat there looking off into the distance.

"I'm sure you heard what I said a while ago," she immediately said as if sensing Annie's prescence. She then sat down beside Cleo looking over into the distance with her.

"Yeah I did, why do you act this way.?"

"I've seen so many people die already Annie," she said quietly, "it's really taken it's toll on me."

"What happened?"

Cleo brushed her hair out of her face and started to tell her story.

"When this whole thing started, me and several others, good friends, my family, and other people took shelter at the museum. I lived in the city and I would always go up to the museum, it was a favorite past time."

Annie saw a smile pass Cleo's face as if she was trying to remember good times.

"Staying at the museum worked for several weeks. However, someone fell asleep while trying to keep watch and all of those things swarmed inside. So many of those people died in there. I saw them being ripped to shreds, eatin alive, there was so much blood and screaming, I couldn't take it so I ran off, after that I met Elizabeth, her children, Sam and Tucker and we set up this group."

Annie looked into Cleo's face. She saw tears streaming down her face. She had really been through so much.

"I don't know what to do now, I wonder if it even matters to go on living anymore."

"Don't say that." Annie snapped taking Cleo by surprise.

"There are so many things left to live for now, you made it alive out here and you have to make the best of it. Don't give up now because something seems too hard. You push on and you keep going. Look at me, I went out here and stayed in those woods starving to death and with no combat experience, but why did I go? I went because I have a family to look her and I wasn't ready to die just yet. Cleo you can't give up now, you have to keep trying to live. If you just let go and die, you'll have so many regrets about it."

Cleo sat there for a while, taking it all in. Eventually she looked up into Annie's eyes and spoke again.

"Thanks," she said quietly and she shared a hug with Annie.

"Now, why don't you go off and get some sleep," she told her.

"Okay," she responded and she got up and went back to the van.

Annie sat there for several minutes taking in everything. All of the anxiety and stress that had been plaguing her mind had finally left her. She felt nothing but content and she knew that the best was about to happen.

**Well this really took a long time to get out. Teaching a moral now to not give up and not let anxiety and stress get to you was a good subject to touch upon. Now then I'll be up with then next chapter pretty soon.**


	10. Chapter 10: A Hunting Trip Gone Wrong

**Chapter 10: A Hunting Trip Gone Wrong**

The van was driving down the road again, in early morning. The other day was pretty hectic and everybody in there seemed to be afraid of Davey now after what he did to Hogarth. Well everybody except Arnold, Danny, and Hogarth. They took crap from no one and this guy wasn't going to drag them down and intimidate them.

Again now it was early morning and Davey stopped outside of a gas station, with a path that led to the woods on the other side of the road. He decided they should check the gas station for gasoline and search the woods for food. Davey then went to the back of the van to call the boys.

"Come on dumbasses, time to get up."

The boys all woke up. Going outside was an irritating experience as the sun was not a very welcoming thing at this point in time.

"Fuck, that hurts." Dexter said as he felt his eyes burning from the contact to the sunlight.

"Get over it four eyes," Davey said, "Alright boys here's the deal. We're gonna need more gas if we're gonna spend a couple days on the road now. I'm going to go in there and get any supplies we need as well as gasoline for the truck. As for you guys I want you to get more experience in hunting, so go out to the woods and find any animals. If we run low on food we're gonna need extra rations."

"Okay, I guess that'll be fine." Tut said in reply.

All the other boys just responded with shrugs and simple words.

"Yeah," "sure," "uh-huh," "whatever."

The boys then went off into the woods, but just as they were about to go Hogarth was called back by Davey.

"Hey kid," he said.

"Yeah," Hogarth said quietly.

"I don't want you giving me any shit now, if you do this and go along with it, your life will be a lot easier with me, if not I'll make this the worst experience of your life."

"Whatever," Hogarth said under his breath.

"What'd you say," Davey snapped at him.

"I said okay, I'll do it," he responded quietly.

"Good, now go shoot up some rabbits."

Hogarth then went off, but not before giving the bird to Davey when he wasn't looking. Like he had said before, he wasn't going to be intimidated by some drunken bum.

* * *

Searching for food in the woods wasn't as big a challenge as it seemed. There were rabbits, birds, snakes, and all kinds of animals out here. The question to the boys was which one would be the best.

One rabbit came out of it's hole and was shot dead by Hogarth with his pistol. The boys ran over and collected the corpse gathering it in his bag.

"Nice shot," Arnold complimented, "I've never seen one straight in the eye before."

They had been out for a little while and had gathered a good amount of food for the time being. Now thouhg they decided to take a break and just talk.

"Well, I knew these would come in handy so far," Danny said as he pulled out a box of cigarrettes from his pocket along with a lighter, handing one to Arnold. "I stole these from Davey's personal stash along with some liquor," he said as he lit up the cigarette and took a smoke blowing a ring out of his mouth into Tut's face causing him to cough sporadically, "watch where you're blowing those things."

"Boy that's great stuff," Arnold said. "Uh, Hogarth, Dex, Tut, you guys wanna try one."

"I don't think those are good for you." Hogarth said reluctantly.

"Eh who cares, you smoke one it's no big deal." Danny said handing him one and lighting it. Hogarth took the cigarette into his mouth and inhaled some of it. He then tried to see if he could puff a smoke ring but failed and started coughing. Dexter came in and started patting him on the back, while the boys started laughing at him

"Oh dear God, you're terrible" Dexter said as he laughed along too. Hogarth responded by elbowing him.

"Anyway guys, we never really did talk about where we'll all going too now. I mean I'm sure you know that Hogarth and I are trying to find some people but what are your plans," Tut asked.

"Well I'm trying to find my girlfriend Sam, and my buddy Tucker. When our house fortress went down I saw them escape in a car, they have to be somewhere."

"Yeah and I'm just trying to find a good group to survive in now," Arnold said.

"You and me both," Dexter said.

"You know, I think that maybe some people nowadays might be going crazy over this whole thing. People do go insane and end up killing other people. So besides walkers we also have to look out for crazy people too." Hogarth stated firmly, "They could be just as much of a danger."

"You mean like Davey," Tut asked.

"Exactly," Hogarth said.

"I gotta admit that was pretty ballsy, standing up to him like that even after he punched you right in the face." Danny said, "that was pretty badass."

"Come on the dude's a bum Danny, there's no way he poses any real threat to us at all," Hogarth said.

"I don't know, he almost offed us on the road three days ago, so there has to be something to his madness." Dexter said.

Just as they were talking about this, they heard two walkerss come out from the woods.

"I'll take care of it," Danny said as he walked over and pulling out a switchblade buck knife, stabbed the walker right in the head as Hogarth took down the other one with his gun.

"We better get out of here," Arnold said, "in case more start coming."

"Good idea," Tut said. And they all left and went back to where the van was parked.

* * *

As they got back they heard yelling coming from outside the gas station where the van was parked. It sounded like an argument was going on so they hid behind the van and peeked their heads out to see what was happening

"Why the fuck were you doing in there."

"I just needed some gas."

"I don't give a shit you tresspass on us and you pay the price asshole."

"Please I just wanted some gas."

"Hold him down and get all of his weapons."

The boys looked from behind the van and saw Davey being thrown on the ground and kicked by a gang of guys. They had guns and knives in their pockets and looked as though the were about to kill Davey.

"We gotta help him," Arnold said quickly.

"HEY, LET HIM GO," Hogarth yelled.

The gang pulled out their guns and knives as the boys did the exact same aiming their guns at them.

"Who the fuck are you little pipsqueaks."

"Look he's with us, just let him go and we'll leave." Dexter told them

"No," another one of the gang members said, "he stole from us and now he has to pay the price."

"Just let him go and we'll negotiate something," Tut said, "we'll settle on a deal."

"Put your guns down or we'll kill him." one gangmember said as he put the gun to Davey's head

"Do what he says boys," Davey responded as he looked at the boys with real fear. Something they never expected him to have.

"Okay, we'll put them down." Danny said.

They then put their weapons on the ground and put their hands up in the air.

"Get inside the gas station." the member said. They did as they were told and followed the members into the gas station with their hands on their head.

**Well this'll get pretty suspensful soon enough. I've actually got the next thing planned out well. For those who want Davey dead now, don't worry it's coming up soon.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Negotiation

**Chapter 11: The Negotiation **

They went inside the gas station their heads over their heads, like prisoners of war. The gang of thugs was behind them pointing their guns at their backs to keep them following their orders, otherwise they would shoot.

"Sit down, all of you," one of the bandits ordered.

They all sat down at the table in the coffee shop connected to the gas station. Sitting down they looked at the floor, trying to not look the bandits in the eyes.

"Now then, what is the reason that you came here," one of the thugs, who was probably the leader of them, asked.

"We just stopped here so that we could gather extra supplies, we've been on the road for three days now and we're trying to find a camp, but we needed extra gasoline and food," Hogarth told the bandits.

"This gas station is our hideout, anybody who tresspasses here and steals from us automatically suffers the consequences, and you might already know what that is" the bandit said as he drew his finger over his neck, giving the symbol of slitting someone's throat. "That honor alone is going to your friend here, on the other hand though you pipsqueaks will be fine."

"What if we gave back what Davey stole," Tut said, "maybe we could settle on it."

"Either way, he still tresspassed on our property, giving back anything doesn't change anything."

"Does it have to be me," Davey said, "why don't you do it to all of the boys."

"What?" Danny snapped, "you're not serious are you."

"What's your proposition," the bandit asked.

"Instead of killing me, why don't you just kill all of them, and I'll join your gang. We can bash their heads in and it'll feel good," Davey said in a sadistic tone as if he was sickly enjoying what he was saying.

"You're fucking kidding me, Davey," Arnold said in a serious tone.

"Do I look like I'm joking," Davey said turning to Arnold with a sick grin on his face.

"Maybe we could come to that conclusion," one of the bandits said.

"Yes, maybe we'll spare you and kill off these little squirts for the fun of it," the bandit said smiling.

"FUCK NO," Hogarth screamed.

Hogarth got up and picked up the stool he was sitting on and threw it at the bandit. The bandit fell to the floor and Hogarth made a quick dash for a baseball bat sitting on the floor. The other boys followed suit and began to attack the bandits. Danny shoved the bandit away and grabbed his gun and knife. Tut stabbed the bandit in the shoulder and kicked him away and Dexter shot one of the bandits in the leg. Davey just stood there and did nothing.

"You little son of a bitch," one of the thugs said as he took out a knife and was about to stab Hogarth. Instead, Hogarth whacked the bandit in the hand with the baseball bat and then knocked him out with it.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE," Dexter yelled.

They all took off running and went back to the van as fast as the could. The bandits followed behind them and began shooting at them. Danny got into the van last and shut the door.

"GO NOW," Arnold yelled. Davey hit the gas and drove the van out as fast as he could as the bandits kept firing at them from behind.

"WE'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, YOU HEAR US, WE'LL GET YOU" the leader screamed at the van as it drove down the road.

* * *

They kept driving until they got as far away from the bandits as they could. They tried to collect themselves from all the excitement that had happened, but also the anger that they all felt.

Davey had put their lives on the line and was literally going to sacrifice them in order to save himself from getting killed. They weren't going to let that go as easily as he thought.

"Stop the van Davey, we want to talk to you outside," Arnold told him.

"Just give me a minute, I wanna make sure we're far away from..."

"STOP THE GODDAMN VAN," he screamed at him.

"Okay fine," he said taken back by Arnold's outburst.

He stopped the van and stepped outside. Hogarth started speaking with anger noticeable in his voice.

"What the hell was that all about back there?"

"What're you talking about," he asked dumbly.

"Don't play dumb with us asshole," Dexter said, "why the fuck did you try to trade our lives in order to save your ass."

"I was just kidding around, I did it so you could get time to attack them so we could escape."

"Bullshit," Tut snapped, "you wanted us out of your hair so you decided to let them cut our throats."

"So what, we escaped didn't we," Davey said trying to make them forget about this whole thing.

"No fucking way," Danny said coldy, "those guys could be trying to find us now and you're just getting wasted every night."

"Shut up Danny I didn't ask you," he snapped at him, "let's just let it go and move on."

"No we're going on without you," Hogarth told him bluntly.

"No, NO FUCKING WAY, you're not leaving me out here on the road!" Davey yelled.

"Oh really watch us," Danny said, "I thought I could trust you Davey, but I was wrong you've gotten even worse now, and I hope that the walkers eat you or the bandits come by and cut your fucking head off."

"It doesn't matter what you do because I have the keys to the van and you can't stop me," he said like a kid in a mocking tone. Just then Davey was knocked to the ground with a baseball bat, wielded by none other than Dexter.

"Nice one," Hogarth told him with a thumbs up.

"Thanks, somebody had to beat the shit out of this guy."

"Come on let's get outta here," Tut said.

They started back into the van and started the keys. Just then there was a banging on the window.

"Come on guys don't leave me out here, I'll give you guys some of my beer, please." Davey whined as he banged on the window.

"Take off," Danny told Hogarth as he was behind the wheel. Hogarth nodded in response and hit the gas and the van took off like a speeding bullet.

Davey stood there in the road just watching dumbfounded as the van took off. He looked back and saw that some walkers were heading in his direction.

* * *

The boys in the van spent a couple hours in the van. It was already past noon, it was very wierd that it had only been morning and they've only been up for a couple hours but it felt like a whole day at this point in time.

Danny, Arnold, and Hogarth each took turns driving, despite the fact that they were only middle school students they surprisingly could drive pretty well.

Tut and Dexter sat in the back seat. Tut looked out the window at the scenery before him. He felt worried though, after abandoning Davey on the road he had fears that he might come back and try to kill them for what they did to him.

"Do you think we made the right choice," Tut asked with concern.

"What do you mean," Arnold asked.

"Leaving Davey on the road, what if he comes back to get revenge."

"Let's see what other choices we had Tut," Hogarth said, "it was either get that guy out of our asses and be free, or have him cause us hell for another couple of weeks."

"Don't worry about it now," Dexter told him, "he's far away from us now, he won't be able to find us."

"Guys look up here," Danny called from the front seat.

"What is it," Arnold asked.

Outside on the side where the woods were, there were tire tracks leading into it. It could've been a car that drove in there, but there could also be people there which meant a group was probably out here.

"Maybe there could be a group in the woods," Danny said.

"Good thinking ghost boy, let's check it out." Hogarth told him.

Danny drove the car into the woods and followed the tire tracks. They went on for a good stretch of length until they eventually came to a stop at a gated fence. They saw people there. They all felt excitement at the thought of finally finding a group.

"This is awesome," Dexter exclaimed happily, "we made it."

"WE MADE IT," Hogarth yelled happily, "come on let's get out and look." He rushed out to open the van and go outside.

"Woah hold on there buster, take your time." Arnold told him.

After Danny set the car in park they all got out of the van and looked over to the gated fence. They saw several people there keeping watch over the perimeter. Hogarth looked forward and all of a sudden he saw her. His mother was sitting there looking over the fence. In a minute they made eye contact and a huge smile came across Hogarth's face. He finally found her.

_ALRIGHT THEY MADE IT. No I'm not ending the story here there's much more to go. The next part is going to be a recap. Something they do on AMC with every mid season finale. Let's look in next time and see what happens._


	12. Chapter 12: Found Friends

**Previously on the Walking Dead/Underrated Classic**

_It has been six weeks since the start of the apocalypse. Hogarth Hughes went out of his town to find his mother while she left to find her family. Along the way Hogarth met new allies and friends Dexter, Danny Fenton, Tutenstein, and Arnold along with an enemy Davey. His mother found a new group which included the previously unknown NIMH mouse Mrs. Elizabeth Brisby along with her four children Martin, Teresa, Cynthia, and Timothy, Sam Manson, Cleo Carter, and Tucker Foley. When we last left our heroes they finally made it to the camp where Hogarth's mother was. They had all gone through much trouble. Not just with walkers but with certain people. Now the mid season part of the story._

**Chapter 12: Found Friends**

Annie looked down on the ground and saw her son. She couldn't believe her eyes, he was here. She got up from her post and went over to Sam who was looking down at the visitors. She too had an elated look on her face as she saw her boyfriend Danny standing there amongst the group.

"Sam go open up the gates."

Sam nodded in response and went to the swtich opening up the gates. As soon as they opened Annie stood there and looked at her son. Hogarth stood there as well with a smile as he look at his mother. He then took off running and ran towards her. Annie knelt down and opened up her arms. He ran into her arms and they embraced.

"Mom, I can't believe you're here, I missed you so much," Hogarth said with joy.

"Hey honey, I missed you too," she responded.

Sam and Tucker came forward and saw Danny standing there with a bright smile on his face.

"DANNY" they squealed happily in unison as they ran over and embraced their friend. Danny gave Tucker a playful bear hug lifting him off the ground.

"Woah you've gotten stronger man."

"Great to see you too techno geek." he said as Tucker gave him a slap on the back.

Sam then came forward and Danny embraced her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. That moment seemed to last forever.

"Hey baby, how's it been," he said to her as he looked into her beautiful eyes.

"It's been lonely for a while. I knew you'd come back Danny, I just knew you would."

Finally Cleo came in front of the gates. She had a look of confusion on her face as if she didn't expect this to happen.

"Hey guys, why'd we open up the gates," she said but she stopped immediately when she saw a familiar face standing there. Her best frend Tutenstein.

Tut saw Cleo and immediately ran to her and hugged her. Cleo returned the hug and looked him in the eyes.

"Tut, I can't believe you made it, I thought you didn't make it out of the museum."

"Remember Cleo, I'm already dead, so really avoiding the walkers was a breeze for someone like me." he said in a playful manner. Cleo laughed and hugged him again.

Hogarth and Annie were still locked in an embrace when Annie asked the question to Hogarth.

"Hogarth, where's Dean?"

Hogarth felt his stomach drop at that sentence. He didn't know how to tell her that... Dean was dead. He felt immense guilt overpour him and he didn't know what to say.

Hogarth looked at her and shook his head and he looked down on the ground tears streaming down his face as he began to weep. Annie felt the same feeling and embraced her son again, comforting him.

"Shh, it's okay baby, it's okay."

It took quite a while but eventually Hogarth got over his sadness and focused on what was important now. He still felt sad but he couldn't let it get in the way of what was happening now, it was time to move on.

"Well I guess that you guys have arrived," Sam said, "we have to introduce everybody."

"There's no need," Dexter said, "we've heard about all of you from the others."

"Yeah," Arnold said. "they've told us all about you on the ride over here."

Dexter then remembered something, he hadn't even introduced themselves. He slapped himself in the face

"My name is Dexter. I met these awesome guys on the road."

"Yeah and I'm Arnold, met them on the way as well," he said courteously.

"Well I guess, we know that but we still haven't introduced the other members of our group here" Tucker said, "they're inside now washing the clothes."

"Well I guess that'll be nice to meet some new people." Hogarth said, "let's go."

Everybody nodded in response and went inside the gated fence. Sam closed it behind them and they walked forward. Annie motioned to Hogarth and said something to him.

"Okay Hogarth listen, this person you're about to meet is a good person but you may seem a little 'unsettled' by her appearance."

"I'll keep quiet Mom, don't worry." he said in reassurance.

* * *

Elizabeth was over in the wash with her daughters while her sons were off playing on the ground. She looked up and saw that there were new people here, she got up and walked over to greet them.

"Hello there, welcome to the group." she said with friendly air before she was cut off by screams.

Everybody reacted with fright at the sight of the life sized mouse walking and speaking at them. Hogarth pulled out his pistol and the others followed right behind him. Elizabeth held her hands up in the air and spoke.

"Don't shoot, I don't mean any harm!"

"Put down your guns, she's friendly." Sam ordered.

Hogarth put his gun down and recieved a smack in the back of the head from his mother. Everybody else put their guns down and stepped forward.

"Okay, I know this is impossible, but it is and I'm a talking life size mouse," Elizabeth expained as she walked over to over and examined each member of the group that just arrived. "My name is Elizabeth Brisby."

Dexter tried to find a way to justify all of this and spoke up "This isn't real, it's all just a figment of our imagination," he said acting smug.

"Well if I was a figment of your imagination could I do this," she said as she kicked Dexter straight in the groin.

"AWWW, God that hurts." he groaned as he fell to the ground.

"You didn't have to do that," Hogarth said to her.

"Sorry I was just pissed at that." she said with a smile.

Dexter got up from the ground and shook her hand as a way to apologize.

"I'm sorry," he said, "my name's Dexter."

"Pleasure," she said with a smile, "and who are all of you?"

They each came up and shook Elizabeth's hand and each said their name and each time Elizabeth nodded and gave warm regards to them.

"Danny Fenton."

"Arnold."

"Tutenstein."

"Hogarth Hughes," he said as the last one, "she's my mother," he said pointing to Annie who was standing next to Elizabeth.

"I always did hope to meet you," Elizabeth said, "and you look just as handsome as I thought you would."

"Aw shucks, well you know." Hogarth said as he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Mom, what's going on," a familiar voice said. It was the eldest of the Brisby sons, Martin, coming out with a stick, he had a very angry look on his face as he walked over to Hogarth.

"Hey there," he said kneeling down at the young mouse, who looked to be around nine, "you must be her son, it's nice to meet you." Hogarth said as he extended his hand expecting a handshake.

"Shut it," Martin said, "you pulled a pistol on my mom and now you pay the consequences." He then started wacking at Hogarth's legs with the stick but Hogarth barely reacted and just kept a smile on his face.

"That didn't hurt," he said calmly.

"Martin, don't act like that, he was just scared. Besides this is Annie's son here," Elizabeth said firmly to her son, she then turned to Hogarth "Sorry about him, he can be a little pugnacious at times, this is my son Martin."

"Mother?" the young girl Teresa said as she came out from the woods with her other siblings Cynthia and Timmy right behind her.

"Well what do you know," Danny said exuberantly, "you got a whole family."

"She sure does," Sam said as she came up to her boyfriend.

"Hello," Timmy said to the new members. "Where did you all come from."

"Hey there little guy," Arnold said, "what's your name?"

"Timmy," he said in a shy manner.

"And who are these cute little girls," Tut asked.

"My daughters, Cynthia and Teresa," Elizabeth said, "girls say hello to the new members."

"Hi," Cynthia said waving

"Hello," Teresa said as she gave a curtsey to them.

"Well now that we've a met each other I think it's about time we start to get to know each other and figure out how things are gonna work from here on in."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Hogarth said.

"He's right, hell of a plan," Danny said in a proud tone.

* * *

A couple hours went by and it was now evening. The group and their new members were sitting by a campfire. After a good meal it was time to get to do some talking. Elizabeth gave her explanation on the NIMH experiments and how she was part of the Thorn Valley colony. Everybody seemed content at hearing that statement and decided to let the subject go, as Elizabeth seemed like a very honorable and kind young woman.

Hogarth, Danny, Tut, Dexter, and Arnold started their story from their and told everything from the start. When everything started, ending up with Davey and being put through hell, and then eventually ending up here.

"Jesus, that guy must've been the biggest douchebag we've ever met," Tucker exclaimed.

"Granted he wasn't like that before, he actually tolerated me but when we came across Arnold, Hogarth, Tut and Dex well things would get pretty fucked up."

"Language we have children here," Annie scolded.

"Oh but he got to cuss," Danny said as he pointed to Tucker.

"Anyway," Hogarth said, "I'm really glad we made it to you guys, we found who we were looking for and we'll finally be at peace."

"It does sound nice," Sam said.

"What about Davey though," Tut said.

"What about dick asshole, Tut," Dexter asked in a sarcastic tone.

"What if he finds us, he could try to kill us after we abandoned him on the road."

"Dude don't worry, Davey's long miles away from us, we did the right thing and he's not gonna come back for us," Arnold said as he patted Tut on the back.

Just then there was rustling coming from outside the gate of the fence. Elizabeth immediately heard the sound and turned her head in the direction it came from.

"What was that."

"Probably some walkers," Hogarth said, "we'll have to get rid of them."

"Good idea," Elizabeth said in response to Hogarth's idea.

Elizabeth got her crossbow while Hogarth got his shotgun and they walked over to the opening of the gates. Hogarth put two shells into his shotgun and got ready to fire. The other members of the group followed behind them, weapons held tightly in their hands in a death grip, ready to kill. Just then the source of their fear come out from the dark... it was just a dog.

"Well, that was fucking pointless," Cleo said.

"Swear," Cynthia said right behind Cleo, triggering Cleo to pat Cynthia on the head.

The dog was a female yellow labrador who was very small, probably a puppy. It came towards the members. Elizabeth felt very uneasy at the animal as did everybody else. It could have rabies and could be ferocious if they weren't careful. Hogarth thought differently and stepped forward, closer to the dog.

"Come here girl," he said as he kneeled and waved his hand out.

The dog came forward and sniffed Hogarth's hand. He then picked up the dog and looked at it, as it began to lick his face in a playful manner. Hogarth started laughing as he stepped away from the dog who looked up at him and started panting.

"It's harmless," Danny said as he chuckled.

"Can we keep her," Tut said, "she could be a good tracker for us when we go for food."

Elizabeth and Annie didn't know what to think. Could it be trouble to have a dog in the group. Sam turned to the two and spoke.

"It could work, besides it won't cause any trouble, it's harmless." Cleo stood next to Sam and nodded trying to get them to oblige.

Elizabeth and Annie then shrugged and responded.

"I don't see why not." Elizabeth said smiling as her response was met with cheer and applause from the members.

"Alright let's quiet down and get to sleep, we've got a long day tomorrow," Annie said.

"Okay mom, that's a good idea," Hogarth said as he turned to the dog and motioned her to come with him, "come on girl let's go inside."

The dog followed Hogarth's request and went inside with him as Hogarth scratched her ears. Everybody couldn't help but laugh at this playful sight.

* * *

It was close to midnight now and everybody was asleep. After the long day it was nice to unwind and just get some rest. There was one that wasn't in bed though and that was Danny.

He looked outside over the sight and saw nothing but the woods. He began to think of all that's happened. What would come from what they've done? Would they be able to survive out here, or would they eventually die all alone in the woods?

Just then he heard footsteps behind him and saw his girlfriend coming up beside him.

"Something on your mind," Sam asked.

"I was just thinking," Danny said quietly, "about all that's happened today."

"It feels great to be back doesn't it."

"Yeah," Danny chuckled, "but I don't know what will happen now," he said as scratched th back of his head.

"What do you mean," Sam asked curiously.

"After all that's happened today, what will be the outcome? Will me make it out here, we'll we be able to survive this whole thing?" Danny started rambling off until Sam put her hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have to worry anymore," she said with a smile, "things will get better, but you got have faith, otherwise your chances won't be worth anything."

Danny thought about that for a second. She was right in order to make his chances of survival work, he had to have faith in himself over what he was going to do. He then turned back to her and looked into her eyes

"You're right Sam," he said as a smile appeared on his face, "I know now things will get better, I just got to hope for it."

For a moment he looked into her eyes and pulled her into an embrace. Their eyes connected and their faces moved closer until they kissed passionately. They stayed like that for a couple minutes until they finally let go.

"Let's go to bed," she said.

"Okay," he said as he followed her back to the camp.

It finally seemed that everything would be at peace.

**Well it's finall compeleted. Sorry I haven't updated quicker everybody but the weeks been pretty rough. My dog Genevieve was put down this week. I've decided to commemorate her memory by including her as the dog character in this story. Thanks for a lot of people who have seen this and continue to follow me here on the sight. This story will get better very soon I promise and eventually I'll move on to Season 2. **


	13. Chapter 13: The Morning After

**Chapter 13: The Morning After**

For the first time in a long time, Hogarth actually felt relaxed. Still he was sitting in a van in a sleeping bag, but he actually didn't feel as stressed as he did before. He awoke that morning and looked out the window.

The sun was up and it looked actually pretty good outside. He was stilled tired though and decided to close his eyes for a couple more minutes. He then felt something touching his face. He looked up again and saw the puppy from last night sitting next to his head. She then licked his face.

"Ha ha, okay, okay I'm up," he said in between laughs as his face got licked by the puppy. He sat up and stroked the puppy's ears as she barked.

Hogarth looked around and saw that the people in the van were gone already.

"Probably must have gotten up already," he said to himself, "well might as well get going."

He opened the doors to the van and walked out, the puppy following right behind him. He walked over and saw several of the others at their positions. Sam, Annie, and Cleo were looking over the area, Tucker was cooking breakfast, Elizabeth was keeping her children entertained, and Tut, Dexter, Arnold, and Danny were all looking over their ammunition and weapons that they had. He walked over to his friends and gave a wave.

"Morning everybody," he said with friendly air.

"Hey buddy, just thought we'd tell you it's time to get up," Arnold said with a smug grin.

"Why didn't you assholes wake me up," he said with a smile.

"Come on dude, you've had a rough couple of weeks, we thought we'd let you get some relaxation. Remember what you said to me back in Albany?" Dexter asked, remembering when Hogarth said he hadn't gotten to sleep in a nice bed for a long time.

"Heh heh, yeah I remember that," Hogarth chuckled.

The puppy started barking and jumped up around Hogarth. He looked down at her and laughed again.

"Hey, your an energetic little thing aren't you girl?" he said as he picked her up.

"But don't bark too much Genevieve," a familiar voice said. Hogarth turned and saw Elizabeth standing there with her children still off playing.

"Hey Elizabeth, umm Genevieve?"

"Yes, I had a sister once who was always energetic and active, and well this little dog just reminds me of her a lot."

"Well I guess we can agree on that, Genevieve it is. You like that?" Hogarth said to her as he then got his face licked again, "well I think Genevieve approves."

Danny stood up and walked towards Hogarth who handed Genevieve to him, "here Hogarth, I'll take her off your hands for a while."

Tutenstein sat in the one corner brushing his knife off. Hogarth sat down beside him.

"Hey man, how's everything going," he asked.

"Very good so far, just keeping my knife sturdy for the next walker I'll have to kill," he said humorously. "Hey Hogarth, I wanted to thank you. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have found Cleo. I owe you bigtime."

"You don't owe me anything. You saved my ass back there on several occasions. We'll call it even from now on."

"Whatever you say Ritchie Blackmore," Tut said sarcastically, "hey I'm still a little worried though about Davey."

"Oh come on, we put that dick miles behind us. Besides he's fucking pathetic, he couldn't shoot a walker to save his ass. He's not gonna find us so don't worry about it."

"Hogarth, I need you for a minute." he heard his mom call for him.

"You go on ahead, don't want to keep your mom waiting," Tut said to him.

Hogarth nodded and got up going up to where his mother was standing. She sat in one of the chairs looking over the area. Hogarth sat down next to her.

"Hey mom, what is it you needed," he asked.

"Just wanted to talk about how everything's been going," Annie said to her son.

"Mom, how'd you get out of Rockwell, there were walkers all over the place."

"It was hard, I had to make use of everything I had. Considering I had no survival skills like you and Dean had. I thought I wouldn't make it. If it wasn't for Elizabeth, I probably would've died soon."

Hogarth looked at the ground with sadness, "I should've gotten Dean out of there. He should be here with us. God I'm so fucking stupid." Hogarth's eyes began to become glassy as he began to weep.

Annie took her son into her arms and embraced him. "Honey, it's fine, you didn't do anything wrong. You tried to save him, but sometimes when things get so hard at the point there's nothing you can do. But you can make up for it by doing good things for others."

"You're right Mom, but I'm not going to forget. This is a part of me now and I'll always regret it."

They sat like that for a while just looking out over the area.

* * *

A couple hours later, Hogarth along with his four friends from the RV went out into the woods on a hunting trip. They brought Genevieve with them to be their tracker. As they walked through the woods, Arnold looked up at the sky at the sun shining.

"Nice day," he said.

"Yeah not too bad," Dexter said.

"Hey guys, what's the date today" Tut asked.

"Um, it's October 1st actually," Danny said.

"Oh shit, we haven't thought that far ahead about the upcoming weather have we," Tut said.

"Yeah what're we gonna do," Arnold said.

"I think I can build a device that'll prevent us from freezing to death," Dexter said, "also we could build an underground hideout and stay there during the winter and we'll bring enough food to last us a long time."

"It won't be that easy man," Hogarth said, "Winter will be here in about two months and unless you can concoct an invention that can keep all of us warm for about 3 months, I'd say the chances of survival for us are pretty much downhill from there."

"It won't be easy, but I can do it," Dexter said in defense, "I'll start working on it as soon as we get back to the camp."

"Quiet, I hear something," Danny said quietly.

There was a rustling sound in the bushes up ahead, could have been a deer or something. That meant dinner for tonight. Genevieve started sniffing the ground and hearing the noise as well began to bark.

"Genevieve's got something," Hogarth said.

"Let's go," Arnold said.

With a nod from everyone they took off running and went to find the source of the noise. Indeed it was a deer standing there drinking water from a stream.

"Ha ha, we got dinner tonight boys," Hogarth said happily. He took out his rifle and aimed it at the deer and shot it dead in the eye.

"Nice one," Danny complimented with a pat on the back.

"Come on, let's get this thing back to camp," Tut said.

They hauled the deer over their heads and began to carry it back with them. As they were heading back they stopped for a minute to fill their canteens with water.

"We might actually be getting a good amount of practice in for the walkers," Arnold said

"Yep," Dexter said, "I bet we'll take down a thousand of them by the time we're done."

Just then they heard the growling coming behind them. The walkers were coming out again, about eight of them so far.

"Let's get them down," Hogarth said.

They all took their guns out and fired at them. They took down about three of them. Suddenly there came other gunshots and the walkers all fell to the ground.

"Did you shoot that," Danny asked Arnold.

"No, did any of you," he said motioning to the other three.

"No," they replied with confused looks on their faces.

Coming out of the shadows came none other than Davey. He had a black eye and a long cut down his face. He grinned at the boys.

"Hey dipshits, miss me."

"No way, you're alive" Danny said angrily.

"How did you find us," Dexter said.

"I didn't do it alone," Davey said, "I had a little help."

The bandits from the gas station also came out of the shadows, weapons in their hands staring at the boys. The leader of them spoke.

"You little bastards thought we were gone huh, well we're back and its time for you to pay for what you did."

"No, we'll kill you all right here," Tut said, "we outsmarted you before, what makes you think you're gonna kill us now."

"Well maybe your little friend here might do the deed himself."

Davey smiled at them maliciously and spoke up, "after you left me on the road these guys came and found me there, I got the shit kicked out of me but I convinced them to hunt all of you down."

"You're pathetic Davey," Hogarth snarled at him, "you couldn't even kill one of the walkers, you're a loser and a bum. I think even a homeless guy could beat the shit out of you."

"Shut up," Davey growled at him.

"What do we do," Dexter asked.

"We can't take them on, we've got to run back to the camp," Arnold said.

"But they'll follow us," Tut said.

"It's the best shot, I'll create a diversion and then we'll take off running." Hogarth said.

"Hogarth's right, let's put it into action." Danny said.

"Alright we'll surrender and go with you," Arnold said to them putting his gun down on the ground. Everybody followed along playing with the act.

"What you're not even gonna fight," one of the bandits said.

"Nope, we pretty much think we're not that skilled as you guys are," Dexter said.

"That's right so we'll just go with you anyway," Danny said as he walked up to one of them.

"Uh-huh, we're just useless teenagers who can't do anything right," Hogarth said.

The bandits started to look confused but eventually decided to comply with their request. Even Davey was starting to look confused by this ploy.

"Okay then we'll take you to our camp," the leader said.

"Man you guys really are pathetic, DO IT HOGARTH," Tut said then yelled.

Hogarth then kicked the bandit in the groin and pushed him away. The others did the same with the other bandits and shoved them to the ground. A walker had come up right behind one of them and began to feed on him. That bandit screamed in agony as he was eaten alive.

The boys gathered their weapons and took off running.

"GET THEM," the leader yelled.

The other bandits got up and took off where the boys went off.

They just kept running and didn't care where they went as long as they got back. As they were, Arnold tripped and got his foot caught on a fallen tree branch and tried to get up.

"ARNOLD," Hogarth yelled as he went back for him. The others came back too and tried to get his foot out of the branch.

"Get out of here," he said, "you guys get back to the camp."

"No we're not leaving you here," Dexter said firmly, "we're not gonna let you die."

"I can take them on, you just get back there and tell them."

"No way, we're getting you out of here," Danny said as he managed to get his foot undone. Walkers started to close in on them probably hearing them.

"FUCK ME, NOT AGAIN!" Hogarth screamed as he managed to shoot down the walkers.

"GO AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE," Arnold screamed as he pushed them away.

Realizing there was no other choice they took off. Arnold looked at the walkers closing in on them and closed his eyes. There was another huge amount of guns being fired as the walkers lifeless bodies all fell on top of Arnold.

The bandits and Davey came along and picked Arnold up where he was.

"Come on dipshit you're coming with us."

Arnold glared at Davey with rage in his eyes as Davey just smirked at him.

Tut was off looking behind a tree and saw the bandits take Arnold away. He was gonna tell the others, they had to rescue him.

_Another chapter down, this next chapter will be with Arnold as he's taken prisoner by the bandits. And you can probably figure out the rest from there._


	14. Chapter 14: Captured and a Rescue Plan

**Chapter 14: Captured and a Rescue Plan**

They just kept running, they stopped when they felt they finally got away from the walkers. Tut wasn't with them and neither was Arnold. Maybe they were both dead. Dexter looked back at where they ran from and yelled out, his voice full of anger.

"We're idiots, WE'RE GODDAMN IDIOTS!"

"Dude, calm down," Hogarth said, "we tried to save him, but we couldn't."

"You're fucked in the head asshole, we should've gotten him out of there, that blood is on our hands now."

"I didn't cause this to happen and I didn't want it to happen so stop placing the blame on me," Hogarth snapped at him.

"Would you two calm your shits down," Danny yelled interrupting their argument, "What does any of that prove, we fucked up and we lost two of our friends, whatever the case we have to get Davey and the thugs out of the way."

"GUYS!"

Tut came running after them. He finally caught up to them and tried to speak but he was disoriented from the constant running.

"Tut, you alright?" Hogarth asked with concern

"You didn't get bit did you," Dexter said.

"No I'm fine, Arnold's alive."

"He is," the three boys said with uplifted voices.

"Yeah, I saw Davey's gang come out and get him up, we gotta go after them, we gotta save Arnold."

"You're right, and Tut we all owe you a bit of an apology," Danny said.

"For what?"

"You said to us that Davey would probably come back and we didn't believe you, but you were right this whole time," he told him apologetically.

"I hate to say I told you so," Tut said sarcastically.

"Asshole," Dexter said.

"Come on let's get back to camp and tell the others, we gotta come up with a rescue plan to get Arnold out of there," Hogarth said.

"Right." They took off again back to the camp.

* * *

Arnold was walked by Davey's gang into the forest. As much as he wanted to escape, there wasn't any possible way. He was trapped now and he had to follow orders, no matter how much pain it was going to cause him.

"You're going to find that trying to fight against us wasn't the best idea kid," the leader said to Arnold. Arnold didn't care and just looked away from him

"Hey" he snapped hitting Arnold in the face, "Listen to me when I'm talking to you."

"Whatever," Arnold responded apathetically.

They kept on walking and eventually reached their destination. A small cabin in the woods. They went inside and walked through the claustrophobic living space until they got to the basement. Arnold was taken to the basement and shoved onto the ground. He looked around and saw a dark room with only a shaft of light coming from a small window in the top of the room.

"You stay here until we found out what we're going to do with you," the leader said sternly.

Arnold got up on his feet and looked at them as they left the room. He looked straight at Davey, who lit up a cigarette and puff a couple smoke rings as he smirked at him.

"What did I tell you kid," Davey said, "I never lose," he then walked out of the basement laughing as he closed the door behind him.

"Asshole," Arnold said to himself, "if I could just get out of here through that window," just then he remembered that they'd be watching him, "no that won't work dammit," he cursed stomping his foot on the ground.

"Hello."

Arnold looked around in the darkness, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Who's there, come out right now," he said threateningly having his fists clenched as he was ready to punch the person.

The shadowy figure stepped out of the darkness, it was a kid who looked to be around twelve.

"Please, I don't mean any harm," he said scared.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you kid," Arnold apologized calming down when he saw the kid.

"Why are you here, were you captured too," the kid asked.

"Yeah, these assholes caught me back in the woods, my group is out there and I got to get back to them. What about you kid?"

"I was just going out to get food and then I found this cabin, they caught me and said they were going to do something to me," the kid got down to the floor and began shaking violenty almost like he was having a seizure.

"Hey calm down, we're going to get out of here," Arnold said trying to calm the kid down.

"But how," the kid asked.

Arnold looked out of the small window, "I've gotten out of locked classrooms when I got detentions back at school, and besides" he said as he looked at the kid. "I have friends in my group that won't let me down, I know that they'll do everything they can to save me."

"Okay," the kid said getting up

"Oh and my name's Arnold," he said.

"Rudy," the kid said, "Rudy Tabootie."

Arnold snickered like an idiot when he heard the stupid name of this kid. In response the kid punched Arnold in the shoulder.

"Woah, you're tougher than I thought," Arnold said.

"Only when someone talks shit about me," he said, "anyway let's out this plan of yours into action."

"Right"

* * *

Hogarth, Tut, Dexter, and Danny were still running back to the camp. As they kept getting closer they saw a horrific sight in front of them. A small herd of walkers surrounded a man who screamed. They stood still and tried not to make a sound as they saw the man b"eing ripped to shreds in front of them.

"NO, NO PLEASE, NO, NO, AHHHHHHHH," the man let out a final scream as the walkers took him to the ground and began to feed on him. There was so much blood and the sounds of flesh tearing and being eaten.

This sight sickened the four friends as they tried to keep quiet. Dexter couldn't take anymore of it and he threw up on the ground, giving away their position.

"Crap, I'm sorry," he said frantically, realizing what he had just done.

The walkers turned and slowly went towards them, there wasn't any way to run now as they were about a dozen of them and only four of them.

"Can we take them down here," Tut asked.

"No there's nothing else, we shoot em down we lose all ammunition and attract more, if we can get an opening we could probably..."

Danny interrupted Hogarth midsentence and huddled themselves together.

"Hold still guys, I'm going ghost," Danny's whole appearance then changed and he turned into his ghost form. He then made the whole group invisible with his powers, "walk slowly they w"on't be able to see us."

They walked right through the walkers! They didn't touch them or anything, they just walked right through them, and they did it. Eventually they got away from them and Danny made them visible again.

"Phew that was a close call back there, sorry for that if I didn't act like such a pussy we wouldn't have been found out," Dexter said.

"Hey I watch a lot of horror movies so I'm used to all the blood and gore, but if you can't stomach that then that's fine, just be sure to be careful next time," Hogarth said, "and Danny thanks for getting us out of that, how'd you do that anyway is that another one of your ghost powers."

"Yeah besides overshadowing people I can make people invisible and able to walk through certain things, it might come in handy this time around."

"Anyway, we've got a job to do so let's get back to the camp quickly," Tut said.

"Uh Tut, we're already here," Dexter said.

Tut must've been scared shitless to the point that he forgot that they walked through a herd and were now back at them camp.

"Oh, well that was convenient, well let's go."

They ran inside as Cleo opened the gates for them. They were greeted by Elizabeth and Tucker who came up to see them.

"Hello boys, where's Arnold," Elizabeth asked.

"It was Davey, the guy we abandoned on the road, he teamed up with the bandits we got away from and they kidnapped Arnold, they're gonna kill him."

"Oh my god, we gotta do something," Tucker said.

"That's what we're planning, and we need help from everybody here, if you can all help us then do it, who's with us." Hogarth said as he tried to rally up members of the group.

Annie, Tucker, Sam, Elizabeth, and Cleo all stepped forward and all said, "We are."

"Good, now let's come up with our plan."

For the next couple of hours they brought together their plan. When it was done they and Hogarth recited what they were going to do.

"Now here's what we're gonna do. Danny, you'll overshadow one of the bandits and create a diversion as Elizabeth and I sneak in and get Arnold out."

"Right."

Dexter, and Tut if anything goes awry you'll notify both of us on these walkie talkies that Tucker gave us."

"Yes"

Mom, Tucker, Sam, and Cleo, you'll watch from the trees and take out any bandits that come our way."

"Affirmative."

"Alright, I guess we're good to go, now let's get into the woods and get Arnold back."

"We're coming with you," Martin said as he came up to Hogarth.

Elizabeth knelt in front of her son, "No son but you can't it's too dangerous for someone as young as you."

"But Mom, I told you I ain't scared of nothin, I'm the bravest mouse in the..."

"You're not coming," Elizabeth told her son firmly, "there's nothing you can do and you're going to stay here whether you like it or not."

"Fine," Martin said disappointed.

"Wait who will watch over them while we're gone though, one of us has to stay back."

"I will," Cleo said takin a step forward, "I've watched these kids before and I'll do it again."

"Cleo are you sure," Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, I'm not doing this because I'm backing out, I'm doing this to be good to the friends I've made. And you guys are the bravest people here that I've met, and I'm going to make it up to all of you."

"Good, now let's go into the woods and get Arnold back," Dexter said

They all nodded and set off into the woods as Cleo shut the gates to the perimeter and watched as the walked off.

"Good luck guys,"

**Alright we've gotten to a huge point in the season and it will be coming to a close very soon, I think the next chapter will possibly be either the ending or the second to last chapter, possibly the second to last chapter. Thanks for all the followers I've gotten, and happy holidays.**


	15. Chapter 15: The Rescue

**Chapter 15: The Rescue**

Arnold and Rudy had spent hours putting their plan into action. Arnold found a small opening under the basement and decided to use it to dig a way out of there. It was exhausting work but it was the best choice of a plan.

"How much longer man," Rudy asked impatiently.

"Just a little bit longer," he said with reassurance.

"You said that for the last three hours, if I didn't know any better I'd say this plan is more stupid than I imagined."

"Will you shut up and just keep digging."

"Alright," he said with defeat.

Eventually the wall broke open and revealed their way out of there "Jackpot," Arnold said as he got down and looked through but he found out something that really pissed him off, "fuck, I'm too big and I can't get through."

"I'll go," Rudy said, "I'm smaller than you and I fit through there."

"And I thought you were the weak type," Arnold said confused as before he saw Rudy on the floor shaking like a wuss.

"You really bought that act," Rudy said, "Come on, I was gonna pounce on you the second you let your guard down."

"Then why didn't you," he asked as Rudy was getting ready to crawl throug the open space.

"Because you didn't seem worth it anyway and I like messing with people," Rudy then crawled through the space.

* * *

The friends were in the woods trying to track down where they took Arnold. Genevieve sniffed the ground trying to find any scent of Arnold. Unfortunately there wasn't any sign or anything that could pinpoint where he was.

"This is hopeless," Dexter complained, "there's no way we're gonna do this correctly."

"Just keep moving," Danny ordered.

Genevieve pointed forward and began to bark, she was on to something.

"She's on to something," Annie said, "come on let's go."

They ran forward and stopped when they saw a log cabin, and out in the front were the bandits and Davey, taking a smoke and chatting away.

"There they are, let's get to our positions, Danny you know what to do right?" Hogarth asked.

"Yep, going ghost," Danny then changed into his ghost form and overshadowed one of the bandits.

The other bandits and Davey look confused as the bandit Danny possessed looked like he was in a trance.

"Hey man you alright," Davey asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine so what were you guys saying," he said playing along with the ruse as a way to distract the bandits, he turned to his friends and gave them a wink.

"Okay, he's got them distracted, Dex you got one of those devices to scan the interior," Hogarth asked.

"Sure do," Dexter said, pulling out the device he had and switching it on, "it was a little on the fritz but I made a little adjustments to it so it should work okay for now."

The device scanned the cabin and gave them all an interior look at the cabin. It showed the upstairs and downstairs and detected a lifeform in the basement area.

"It's got to be Arnold," Elizabeth said, "no wonder they trapped him there, but what's that?'"

There was another lifeform detected crawling out of the basement and making it's way to the back area of the cabin.

"I don't know, maybe another prisoner?" Tut asked.

"Whoever it is, check him out and see if he's good or bad" Sam told Elizabeth and Hogarth, who both nodded in response.

"You're both clear now find a way around and get Arnold out of there," Tucker said, to which they again nodded.

Elizabeth and Hogarth took off with their weapons in hand as they went off to the back of the cabin avoiding any bandits in the way. As they took off, Annie, Sam, and Tucker took their weapons in their hands and aimed their guns down, ready to snipe anyone who gets in their way.

* * *

Rudy finally climed out of the basement and was outside again, he had to find the camp and tell them how to get Arnold back. Just then he was grabbed and put in an armlock with a gun to his head.

He opened his eyes and saw a female mouse standing in front of him with a crossbow in her hands, he was too frightened to speak but he found out that he was being held by another guy with a gun to his head.

"Tell us who you are, and what you're doing here," the mouse said to him threateningly.

"I don't know what you're..."

"TELL US MOTHERFUCKER," the kid holding a gun to his head said.

"I'm trying to help my friend Arnold get out of here, I'm looking for his group. I thought we could get him out of there together.

"Oh, we're sorry," the mouse said, "let him go Hogarth."

Rudy was released from Hogarth's grasp and he turned to him with an angry look.

"Sorry, we can be a little too paranoid sometimes," Hogarth told him.

"We're from Arnold's group, we came here to rescue him and if you're his new friend we could definitely use his help."

"Yeah, I'll help. I'm Rudy Tabootie."

Elizabeth and Hogarth both snickered at hearing his ridiculous name.

"Why does everybody laugh at name," he said annoyed.

"Anyway, where is he," Hogarth asked.

"He's in the basement, we were trying to dig a hole out but only I could fit through because I'm small enough, there's got to be another way in."

"Well there's armed people surrounding the cabin there isn't any other way in." Hogarth said looking at the ground in defeat.

"What about up there," Elizabeth said pointing to the chimney on the top of the cabin.

"Man we are the biggest shit for brains in the world," Rudy said to Hogarth.

"Yes you both are," Elizabeth said with a sweet smile.

Climbing up the side of the cabin wasn't really hard but getting down the chimney was another thing entirely. It was very claustrophobic and getting down wasn't easy.

Hogarth was the first to make it to the bottom.

"Ho ho ho," he said to himself imitating Santa Claus

"Look out below," Rudy yelled as he came down and fell right on the top of Hogarth.

"Rudy, get the hell off of me," Hogarth grunted as he was being crushed.

"Sorry, I'll..."

"Here I come," Elizabeth said as she fell down on Rudy and Hogarth, "Oh dear, I'm sorry."

"Get the fuck off of us," they both said in unison.

"Is that any way to talk to a lady," she said putting her hands on her hips and looking at them with a smile.

"Please get off of us," they said again.

"That's better," she said and got off of them.

They climbed out of the chimney all covered in ash and soot and looked around.

"Nice place they got here," Hogarth said.

"Yes, it could be a nice place to vacation for the winter," Elizabeth said, "but that's not the point now, we've got work to do."

"Anyway, the basement is down that door." Rudy said pointing to the door in the room.

They walked down and found Arnold sitting there in the corner of the room, when he saw them his face lit up and he got up.

"Guys, you're here."

"Of course, a team always sticks together and we weren't going to let you down," Hogarth said to him, "let's get you out of here."

Arnold nodded, but just as they were about to leave..

"HEY!"

The bandits from outside, and Davey were there in the basement and were standing before them.

"I thought I'd see you again," Davey said, "couldn't let a friend go and die."

"Not like you could traitor," Hogarth said to him.

"No matter now," the bandit leader said, "now that you're back your going to get all of the pain you deserve."

"No," Elizabeth said walking up to the bandit and looking him straight in the eyes, "he's coming back with us and we're leaving right now."

"Shut up bitch," he snapped as he hit Elizabeth in the face.

"DON'T TOUCH HER MOTHERFUCKER," Hogarth screamed as he was about to punch him but was thrown down the floor.

"Now you listen here you little shit, you have double crossed us and made us look like idiots and now you're going to pay and this time it's going to be even more painful then before."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Danny's voice said from out of nowhere as he knocked out the bandit and became visible again. "GO," he yelled to his friends.

He knocked out the bandits and Davey and then looking over at the furnace in the room shot it with his gun before running out.

Hogarth, Elizabeth, Arnold, and Rudy ran out of the cabin and met up with their friends at the front entrance. All the guards were gone as they went inside to check on the rucus.

"Guys you made it," Sam said.

"We got to leave now," Arnold told them.

"Who's this," Annie asked, pointing at Rudy.

"Don't worry, he's friendly he helped us find Arnold," Hogarth said.

They turned around and saw Danny running towards them frantically.

"GUYS LOOK OUT AND DUCK IT'S GONNA BLOW," Danny screamed.

They all dropped down to the ground and covered their heads as the whole cabin exploded. It blew up in a huge explosion full of fire and destruction.

After it was over they all got up and looked at the destruction.

"Holy shit," Elizabeth said.

"Well I guess we won't have to worry about these guys again," Tucker said humorously.

"Guess again."

They saw Davey crawling away from the house. He must've waken up early and got out before the cabin exploded.

"It ends now," Davey said.

Hogarth walked forward ready to face him. Everybody looked at him with disbelief. He was going to take on Davey by himself? But with the look of anger on his face it seemed like there was no way he letting this guy win.

"Let's finish this," he snarled at him.

Davey threw a couple punches at Hogarth which he dodged nicely. Hogarth got the chance and threw several hits on Davey's face. All the pent up rage and hate he felt towards him was all being let go. Eventually though Davey got one lucky punch, knocking Hogarth to the ground. He then got on top and grabbed Hogarth's neck, he was going to strangle him.

Hogarth tried to pull his hands off of his neck but it was no use. He felt all the air escaping his lungs.

His friends saw this and ran over to help. Danny, Dexter, Arnold, and Tut all got on top of Davey's back and tried to pull him off. "You let him go you bum, you fucking psycho."

Davey pushed them all off. "You're all gonna die too after I'm finished with him." He then looked at Hogarth with that detestable, sadistic smile. Hogarth was gonna die in a minute.

"You're gonna die you little shit. Say goodbye to your mommy and your friends. You couldn't save them, cause you're nothing more than a stupid little brat."

Those words caused the anger to grow in Hogarth, and what happened next surprised everyone. He dug his nails into Davey's hands drawing a lot of blood. Davey shrieked and loosened his grip. Hogarth then let out a scream as he pushed Davey back with unbelievable strength and he unleashed his rage.

He then smashed his fists into Davey's face breaking his nose and leaving his face bloody. He grabbed Davey's hand and twisted it to the side breaking his wrist. As Davey kept yelling from the pain Hogarth then got up and began kicking Davey in the face, getting blood all over his shoes and messing Davey's face up even more. Eventually he stopped and pulled out his rifle aiming it at Davey's head just like he did back on the road.

"Go ahead," he said, "Do it."

Hogarth began to think to himself, "he's enjoying this."

"DO IT," Davey screamed.

Hogarth lowered his gun and shook his head. The others looked at him with confusion. Why didn't he just do it?

"You're just a little pansy kid, you can't even kill me," Davey said as he began to cackle and laugh.

"No," Hogarth said. He then heard the sounds of walkers approaching their position. "But they can." He then spat on Davey and walked away.

Hogarth and the others returned to their friends and walked away just letting Davey sit there as the walkers came closer. He began to scream and yell.

"COME BACK HERE YOU PANSY, COME BACK AND FINISH IT, COME BACK!"

As they went back into the woods, the four boys who Davey tormented looked back and saw as the walkers closed in on him and tore him to shreds as he screamed. They then walked off with their friends back to their camp.

* * *

They walked off for a while staying quiet for most of the time. Eventually Tut went up to Hogarth and talked to him.

"Hey Hogarth, why didn't you just do it, he was asking for it why didn't you just put an end to it?"

"He wasn't worth it Tut, and I'm not a murderer, I'm not going to kill someone just because they want me too, otherwise I'm a bigger coward than he is."

"I guess," he said to him as he walked away.

Annie went up to Hogarth and decided to talk to him

"You did the right thing Hogarth, sometimes you just have to get up and walk away in those kinds of situations. But you also..." She stuttered remembering how he beat the living shit out of Davey.

"I don't care anymore Mom, I know now how everything in this world has become, there's gonna be fallout."

"I would expect so," Annie said.

"Hey Hogarth," Rudy said walking up to him, "thanks for letting me come with you, I don't think I'll survive out here without you guys."

"We'll teach you all we know Rudy, you'll know how to survive and how to live."

"Thanks Hogarth."

"No problem."

Eventually they got back to the camp and finished their day. This was the beginning of a long trail of horror and struggle that would go on for a very long time.

**Well that's it. There will be a second season starting and this will be an ongoing cycle. I'm glad I finally killed off Davey. Leave reviews and have fun everybody. ****Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! **


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